The Black Tide
by RexRock
Summary: [CHAPTER 10 UP] It's been a year since the Evil Twins invaded the lives for Crash and Cortex. And now they're forced to team up again to face another mysterious enemy force... but in a darker situation. (PLEASE R&R)
1. Intro: Prelude of a Sudden Purpose

-AUTHOR'S NOTES-

Heh, it's been a long time since I actually wrote a Crash fic here. :) I've been told by a lot of people to get in here and provide something to actually read in this part of the site, so… there we go.

This is basically the first proper Crash fic I wrote since unveiling Galaxy of Europe back in 2002, and it's in this one that I want to show a bit of difference in what I write. Here, the legacy for Crash Bandicoot faces a darker turn, and in true Twinsanity fashion we have him working with Cortex in an attempt to defeat a rogue enemy force that just recently inhabited the island.

I have literally worked hard on this one, even with all the reflective proportions within it. I hope you enjoy reading this thing as much as I have enjoyed writing it.

Peace out,

-Rexy-

* * *

The sights of the south western portions of the Pacific Ocean were seen glimmering brightly against the sunrise skies, which left behind several sparkles upon the water. Several fish were seen hovering near the surface, taking in the glances above the waves. 

A few dolphins in the distance performed breath-taking jumps from the far side, leaping with a lot of majesty all around them and in turn landing in a streamlined fashion and keeping the waters as smooth as possible.

A small pack of younger dolphins ended up swimming straight underneath a canoe-type boat, floating beautifully upon the surface. Its structure was shown to be in an ancient aborigine style, with tribal influences placed all around it.

Sitting near the back, just outside a hut attached to the boat, was a young black haired girl with a black dress upon her. She didn't show her face, but her emotions showed a calm and relaxed motion around her.

And at the other side of the boat, there sat another figure – one wearing a white laboratory coat, and with red gloves placed upon his own two hands. He didn't show much of his face either, but when he spoke, he showed his beard-covered mouth into the sunlight.

"It has been a year since I last saw the Evil Twins roam around this sole dimension", he spoke with a faint and deep voice.

He gave out a sigh, before pointing his head down towards the water surface. Over there, the reflections of parts of the barge were seen all around it, allowing the boat to shine in all of its majestic glory.

There, the figure showed his face reflecting upon the water – a figure with yellow skin, a black ring of hair around his head to match the color on his beard, deep red eyes, and a tattooed N symbol placed upon his forehead.

He picked up the strength to speak again. "I have remembered the horrific events that have managed to stand between their defeat, their escape, and my own problems that have occurred within that time."

He then placed his hands upon the water surface, leaving the water to end up providing a few ripples among the surface while in turn blurring into a vision from the figure's eyes. That one in particular showed him in a pink jelly-based room, covered by orange marsupials wearing distinguishable blue jeans and having deep green eyes all around them.

"It took me nearly two weeks to get released from that blasted bandicoot Crash's brain after accidentally zapping myself inside it. It was a living nightmare!"

Most of the creatures ended up pulling off a rugby tackle on top of him, leaving them to end up rolling towards one side of the room. There, a monitor was seen showing a viewpoint around a laboratory.

"And I swear it could have been easier if Coco and Nina seemed to compromise first, from what I managed to see through that marsupial's eyes."

There, two other figures – another orange bandicoot but this time she was female with long blonde hair and with a set of blue dungarees covering a white t-shirt, and a human girl with deathly pale skin, a lot of black/navy clothes around her, buck teeth and a lower case n on her forehead – were seen involved in a catfight. There, the figure ended up widening his eyes with horror.

The vision soon started to fade into another again, but this time on a demented tropical home, where there were two parrot-like creatures in space outfits seen retreating to a nearby bungalow, cowering with fear.

"Most of us feel unsure over what happened to the Evil Twins at the end. He might have been consumed by a monster - that Evil Crash creature is the first thing that came in mind - or maybe ending up hiding away in starvation, far away from their own fortress."

A shadow then managed to creep over them, showing its claw-like hands around them. He then brought himself into the spotlight – a red bandicoot figure, but with menacing eyes around him, a broad amount of upper body strength and deeper red pants all around him.

Both parrot creatures – presuming those were the Evil Twins – ended up holding onto each other with fear, screaming at the top of their voices as the creature drew closer and closer towards them, ready to make its attack.

"Alas, times have changed."

And then, the vision faded back out towards the canoe edge once more. There, the figure showed more concern through his two eyes than beforehand, with his hair blowing through the wind while adding to his moods.

"And yet it's here that I, the great Neo Cortex", he smiled while speaking, "have never faced a prouder moment other than this. I may still be scheming to get rid of that blasted bandicoot..."

He gave out a light growl from his mouth upon speaking, but… it wasn't long until another dolphin rising from the waves left him to smile as he managed to stand up on both feet. There, he ended up bringing his head up towards the skies, showing a confident smile all around him.

"But there will always be a time to think back on the scenario that could have almost changed forever as we knew it..."

He smiled before he ended up making his walk towards the hut placed upon the back. There, he ended up placing his back upon the walls, looking on at the dimming light among him. That in turn was reflected upon his own face.

From nearby, the female figure from the back of the boat stood up, while showing herself in front focus. She ended up showing herself as the pale skinned girl in the flashback, being Nina herself.

There, they both managed to come close to one another, as they ended up seeing into the scenery enveloping ahead of them. Right there, a land mass gradually started to peak over the horizon, showing the nearby end of the water stretch.

They both looked behind them, and it was there that the Iceberg lab that they managed to depart from was nothing more than a spec in the distance. For that, they both gave out confident smiles, knowing that the island may not be a "place of no return".

The waves in turn ended up becoming gentler as they managed to come much closer towards their destination, which in turn was represented by a smooth and relaxed ride towards the island ahead.

**-A FAN FICTION PRODUCTION-**

But there was one thing that they ended up noting as they got closer – the skies ended up turning into a deep sunset color all around them too quickly. That in turn was easily reflected upon the light coming down upon the barge's surface.

Then, the waters themselves started to face some light jumps upon the line, causing the barge to end up jumping upon the water, leaving a few drops of water starting to land upon the surface of the boat.

And then, a strong breeze ended up started to surround them, as if a storm was about to surround them. That in turn ended up causing their hair to blow in the wind as the mass came into closer view.

-A Crash Bandicoot™ related fanfic by RexRock-

And as like magic, the island was gradually shown in full view, from the top of its volcano gradually going down towards the shores. A black cloud was seen surrounding it, giving off bright purple thunderbolts every few seconds.

Most of the island was either shrouded in darkness, or covered in deathly weeds, thus emphasizing on the mass's more horrific nature. A few metallic structures were also seen all around the mountain tops.

A strong amount of smoke also escaped from out of the volcano, thus providing a more shaken horrific glance all around it. That in turn escaped into the skies, and provided a darker cloud all around the scene.

**-THE BLACK TIDE-**

In time, the waves gradually started to get rougher and rougher, leaving the barge to start rocking from side to side. That left Cortex to take a strong grasp upon the edge while maintaining his eyesight upon the island.

Nina managed to earn enough support by using her hands to hold onto one of the walls around the hut held inside the boat. And as the volcano slowly started to rumble, the force was steadily conducted through the water.

Eventually, giant waves started to emerge from behind, leaving drops of water to get into the barge. And the drops gradually turned into bigger splashes, before the boat was on the risk of capsizing.

"Uncle Neo!" screamed Nina from behind.

Cortex tried to keep his balance at the front, but eventually… the force behind the water started to get rougher and rougher. And eventually… the boat was tipped upside down, thus bringing him directly underwater.

That in turn left Nina to dive in from her position, leaving her to swim deep for her falling uncle. Eventually, she found him steadily floating down towards the waves in a lying motion, with his limbs sticking upwards.

She quickly managed to make his way over to him, taking a hold of him by the hand and eventually bringing both of them straight up towards the water surface. There, they instantly gasped for air, relieved they managed to escape the force of the boat's tipping.

Holding onto her uncle as tight as she can, she looked behind her and ended up seeing the boat beginning to collapse as plank by plank it was deteriorating into nothing. A nearby one drifted towards their direction, being almost as wide as a manta ray in size.

There, she helped Cortex took a hold onto the surface, before hanging on right next to him. And together they paddled their way towards the island; a dangerous way there, but they knew that they were lucky to be alive.

* * *

The sands that surrounded the island were dry and brittle, aside from those that were occasionally swept underneath the water surface where they ended up sparkling with a light silver color all around. 

Hidden within the sand were deep watery footprints, which in turn got drier as the beach was brought further inland. A long trail of land mass was seen upon the floor, showing some further footprints upon the ground.

As the tiki barge was seen sinking within the deeper ends of the sea, that left Cortex and Nina – the bearers of the footprints – to walk further on ahead of them, absorbing the island's more sinister surroundings. Their expressions both looked subdued.

"I suppose it's true in saying things change over a great period of time", Cortex muttered to himself. "But how?"

"I have no idea", Nina somehow replied while shaking her head, "but whatever's happened, it seems even worse than what happened back on Twinsanity Island."

"I have understood the ways of their torture", he spoke again, "but I feel this may have been rubbing the wrong way on something."

As they walked on, Cortex's thoughts were focused on his previous adventure, where he – alongside with Crash Bandicoot – ended up stopping the Evil Twins from twisting their world to an evil paradise. And then… he blinked hard.

"Oh no!" he then panicked. "Please... don't let it be...!"

Various flashbacks started to follow in his mind, most of which linking towards his calamity-filled pitfalls throughout, as well as some more serious triumphs. Bringing down the totem god Tikimon, fighting Uka Uka in an ice monster's body, facing various scenarios with N. Gin and his treasure hunters, escaping from Madame Amberley's clutches after leaving the Academy of Evil, and in turn defeating the Evil Twins on Twinsanity Island in the 10th dimension…

_A concept was then struck._

That in turn left Cortex to lightly scream with pain, before bringing himself on his hands and knees, expressing pain upon his own face; nearby, Nina ended up showing concern through her own eyes.

"Uncle!" she shouted towards him.

She ended up crouching down towards his level, wanting to place her hand against his back, but… before she could even do so, he ended up retreating away from her direction slightly, realizing the pain her trap-like hands would provide.

"I'm not firm enough to explain right now", he sighed with hesitance.

Nina looked on at him quietly, and it was there that she responded with a small nod pointing down. It was there that Cortex soon managed to bring himself to his feet and calmly stroke her upon her own back, trying to lift her own moods up.

But before anything else could happen, a whole massacre of black figures ended up flying above them and heading straight down towards the surface. They in turn managed to land firmly upon the ground with their own sleek positions.

"What kind of creatures are those?" Nina asked.

They in turn started to step into the light. And they themselves were shown to be armored astronaut creatures, with their own faces showing bird-like anatomy; however they were shown to have shades of red fur instead of feathers around them.

They brought out their bird-like hands, and placed small pistols within them. They then started to approach both Cortex and Nina, with their faces gradually becoming more sinister as time managed to draw on.

"They look similar to the Evil Twins!" gasped Cortex as he looked on at their structures while shifting his focus towards Nina from time to time. "But... how is that possible?"

"We have no time to ask questions. Let's move on in!"

In a sudden, Nina ended up making her dash towards one side of the party. There, she opened up her hands, and launched a bear trap device from them straight towards the opponents; while most of the creatures ducked, the odd one or two ended up being punched harshly around the face.

The device eventually reached Cortex, whom in turn rolled upon the ground in the last minute. While he was down there, he ended up being surrounded on both sides by two other creatures, pointing their guns down at him.

"May you accept my token of complete honor?" he asked with hesitance.

He brought his own pistol out, and pointed it straight towards the opponents all around him. But they in turn ended up pointing their own pistols down further, before in turn pulling their triggers and allowing radiant white light to shine from their laser pellets.

"AAARGH!"

At the very attack, Cortex ended up jumping up onto both feet and ended up making his run straight back the way he came. Before he even returned to the beach, he took cover behind a tree… only to see another laser shot integrate it in the matter of seconds.

Meanwhile, back at the clearing, Nina ended up coming closer towards another team of opponents from all angles. She looked on at them all with a confident expression, before twitching her own hands with a devious expression.

"Eat this, punk!"

And just as when the opponents were close enough, she brought herself into a death defying spin with her claw-like hands being used to send her opponents further down towards the ground with pain around them.

While that happened, more creatures started to make their run near her, which in turn left her to open up one of her hands to attack her opponents with long range attacks in all directions around her.

"I never thought fighting you would be so easy!" she smirked viciously.

She ended up smiling as she managed to dust herself off from the attacks she managed to pull off. But while that happened, a larger member of the crew ended up approaching her from behind.

The creature then roared at her, causing her to end up turning behind her and end up launching her bear trap hands towards it as furiously as she can. It ended up clipping onto its hand, leaving the creature to end up smirking with no pain.

That was until a light thunderbolt ended up striking the area, conducting through the chain and providing the current through both figures, leaving them to be shocked together and causing them to fall to the ground, the hand eventually being released from the grasp.

"Positively shocking", she said in a traumatized motion.

"Nina, get me out of this mess!"

She stood up, her hair starting to stand on end and a few light black marks showing upon her clothes. There, she saw Cortex being escorted back into the clearing by more of the monsters, held on all of his limbs, struggling to escape from their clutches.

"They're going to tear my lungs out if you don't come near me in the next five seconds!"

She knew she had to think fast, even at her state. But there, she managed to pull herself together, and eventually dash her way towards another side of the clearing. There, Cortex saw the monsters coming closer and closer to her, ready to use their weapons to pierce damage upon his body.

They placed the guns just a mere inch towards his body, and were ready to pull the trouble when… a shadow ended up coming over them. They looked up, and it was there that they saw Nina standing on top of a large boulder.

"Geromino!"

She brought out one of her hands, and attached it to the twig on a nearby tree. There, she swung straight down towards her opponents, slamming as hard as she can onto them with her own legs. That in turn knocked a few creatures to the ground, while in turn freeing Cortex from the waist down.

She then turned around, and managed to attack her way back towards a few other remaining creatures. There, a further kick left it to release its pistol before falling, leaving her to turn around and use her other hand to grab it from a long range.

She then pulled the trigger for herself, causing a stream of white laser shots to be fired towards the ground. That left most of the creatures to end up running from her wave of terror, in turn leaving Cortex behind as they retreated.

"How do you like THEM apples?" she smirked with a casual look.

Then, she ended up jumping her way straight back down towards the ground, landing firmly on both legs. Her new found pistol was still pointed on at the team around her, which in turn ended up leaving the clearing in a mere instant.

Silence was brought all around her, leaving her to smile peacefully on the scene all around her. All that remained of the attacking team was footprints upon the floor, left from the stances of the battle itself.

She then managed to make her way towards the middle of the clearing herself, before providing light punches into the air herself; that caused the traps to spring out from her hands and were brought high into the air with victory.

"Rock on!" she then cried out with victory.

"Phew, thanks for covering me" sighed Cortex. "Frankly I wouldn't have stood much of a chance without you by my-"

"Anything to help an ol' timer. Y'see?"

The traps were soon brought back into her hands, and that in turn left her to reach Cortex's grasp and place him in a handshake motion. That in turn left him to show a face filled with pain upon the force of her uncontrollable grasp.

But it wasn't too long until silence was struck around them again. The sound of waves crashing were brought back into their own ear range, leaving them to smile peacefully at it. But there was another gesture that sounded like metal clashing, which left their eyes to widen.

"What was that?" Cortex asked.

Nina twitched her head to the left, and then to the right. She took a cautious step forward, where she ended up coming towards a small metal trap layered in the ground. It was seen banging furiously every few seconds.

She brought out her hands, and instantly pulled the door off its hinges, leaving her to see into a figure from down below – an orange marsupial creature with blue jeans, quivering green eyes and a pair of brown shoes upon him to blend in with his deep red hair.

Nina gasped at the sight. "Crash!"

He brought his head up towards Nina, with a face filled with concern and pain upon him. There, she ended up crouching down on both knees, leaving her to stretch her arm out towards him as gently as she could.

"Crash, what are you doing down there?" she asked with concern. "I thought you would have been able to get around the island and defeat this invading menace! What happened?"

He took a hold of Nina's elbow, and climbed his way back up towards the surface. Once he did, all he could do is show a face filled with gloom upon him, which in turn was reflected back onto her own two eyes.

"I take you're too upset to tell, huh?" she said with a sympathetic look. "You know, maybe we should take you back towards the Iceberg Lab and see if you can calm down. How about that?"

With a reassuring smile, she ended up placing her hand upon his back, instantly taking a hold on him in a painful hug granted the bear traps in place. The pressure and pain left him to scream on the spot, before… providing the inevitable.

He then opened his mouth to speak. "Nina, not too hard!"

"AAAH!" she screamed with shock while releasing her grip. "He talks!"

"Are you sure this is the Crash we know?" Cortex asked curiously.

Nina looked back at Cortex with a shocked look all around her, before looking back at Crash. He in turn managed to escape from her struggling grasp, before bringing himself on hands and knees, gasping for air.

"I've had it up to here with what has happened to this island in the past 3 months", growled Crash. "Strange birds invading this island and swamping it for their own... N. Gin still invading the other side of the island for buried treasure... and on top of that Coco and Crunch have gone missing!"

He then ended up bringing his face front first into the sand, leaving a lot of grains to end up rising into the air over time. That in turn left Cortex to calmly approach him, curious over the new turn Crash has taken.

"But what explains your ability to speak?" he asked him.

Crash ended up ignoring his plea. "Those damn birds imprisoned me, tortured me, changed me... even took my prize yo-yo away from me!"

In frustration, he ended up going within his jean pockets and pulling them inside out. That in turn revealed nothing inside at all. Not even a single spec of dust. Cortex gave out a light blink with shock over the change of events.

While that happened, Crash eventually stood up, took a hold onto one of his own arms and literally started to growl as he turned towards the inner regions of the island. There, a stronghold was stood firmly upon a hill, with a volcano not too far from it.

"Take it easy, Crash", said Nina with reassurance. "Now that you're out from your trapped prison, there must be a way that we can be able to get back at this army. We'll also be bound to pinpoint their leader when we get the right information".

The bandicoot was then brought into silence. "You'd do that for me?"

He looked on at Nina, whom gave a confident smile back towards him, before coming closer towards him and using her forearm to end up stroking him lightly upon the back; she may have been cold to the touch, but his smile may have showed that he faced colder over time.

While that happened, Cortex approached him from nearby and brought out his arm, extending it into a handshake. As soon as that happened, he in turn managed to embrace himself into a hug, with a couple of tears of joy starting to come down his face.

"Thanks, guys", he said with a face filled with relief.

The vision of the new coming venture didn't erase his freshly found smile for one second. He then knew that his time of pain and torture was over, and it was up to then that he was set to put things right again.

And the expressions for Cortex and Nina were sure to aid him for most of the way. He managed to blink on at them both… while at the same time putting on a brave expression towards Nina's force around her sudden hug around his chest.

"Uh, I think you've broken my spine..."

* * *

Several minutes passed, and the waters around N. Sanity Island were shown to gently simmer upon the sandy surface at a peaceful rate around them. The deep skies didn't help much for sight, although much of that was aided due to the use of neon sparks zooming across the skies. 

Further up the sandy dunes walked Crash, Cortex and Nina together, their hands brought down the sides of their bodies and their expressions showing more reflective looks upon them. The sand left them to provide more pristine footprints as they walked further.

Within the group, Crash was seen making his look up towards the mechanical structures on tops of the hills, most of which seemed to be obscured by various mountainous structures right in front of them.

"I take there's no trace of hope left on this island now that you were captured?" Cortex asked Crash.

"Not quite."

He looked back at Cortex, his expression gradually becoming more hopeful. While he and Nina looked on at him with shock, all that Crash could do was smile back before walking further with his hands locked behind his back.

"As far as I can see, I saw some renegade fighters near my prison cell, taking down some of these opponents themselves. They were in an unusual form of shapes around them."

"Any names we should know about?" questioned Nina.

"I could sense only one of which, and that was someone named 'Kyle-Jovi'."

At the sound of the name, Cortex came to a sudden stop. That in turn left Nina to come to a stop two seconds later, her face turning back towards him. He was seen in a pondering stance, his eyes gradually twitching from side to side.

"Kyle-Jovi..." His eyes blinked. "That name sounds familiar to me..."

"I take it's another experiment of yours?" Nina sighed while looking back at him. "Or did you totally forget about him?"

Nina shifted her focus straight towards Cortex with a light twitch upon her eye. There, he started to show a face filled with puzzled complexions, before he ended up taking a light step back and brought his head up towards the sky.

"He too escaped from my lab before putting him under the Cortex Vortex." He then growled before looking down. "If only if I confiscated him of his wings sooner..."

"Do you have any idea on where he may reside?" asked Crash. "Because I feel he may be able to help us out when needed."

"Knowing him he might have forgotten about the whole surroundings by now", Nina shrugged.

She ended up folding her arms with a light twitch of the eye, bringing her focus back towards her uncle in a highly sarcastic fashion. All he could do was respond back with a more afraid look than anything.

While that happened, he ended up looking further down the sandy paths ahead. They looked so clean and untouched in comparison to the rest of the island, leaving them to end up showing more reflective looks as time went on.

"It's all a case of pot-luck, I'm afraid", Cortex replied with a grim look. "We go around the island, see if we can hunt him down... or worse."

Crash's ears dropped down with fear, with Nina soon to follow with her relaxed arm expression. There, it wasn't long until all three of them started to walk at a briefer pace than before, ready to take in the remaining sights of the changed island.

The skies still looked as painfully purple as possible, the sands were still shown to be dry upon the surface, and the remaining portions of plant life showed pain through the withering colors brought upon them.

It was there that they knew that together, they had a new journey to be able to embark on - the arrival of the invading furry bird creatures towards their island home, and the hope of seeking the most thoughtful help source to guide them there.

But is the legacy of Kyle-Jovi as truthful as it made out to be? Or will it be responsible for a serious downfall? Those and many other questions were left roaming through their head as the dry path continued on.

-end of part 1-


	2. The Flight of the Pelican

-AUTHOR'S NOTES-

Advancing onto the second chapter of this thing then...

In this one we have a strong introduction as granted towards the driving force of the island's hope - a rebellion force as lead by Kyle-Jovi. (I got a sketch of him done somewhere, but I just need to get that finished...) It's also here that I hoped to intertwine a further amount of destiny to add within the darkness so far... meep.

Looking onto the response on the previous chapter I can say I'm happy with how things have come around. Thanks for taking your time to look into it and seeing what there is. Let's see if I can look into some of those queries left behind.

Crashfan, registration here is free. If it wasn't, we won't have so many members here right now. But if you do want to come aboard, you won't regret it.

Redwalgrl, as sad as it is to say this, Twinsanity is not on the GameCube. :( But I was hoping that wouldn't impede the experience too much, right? Thanks for your time.

And Turquoise Phoenix, I also thank you so much for your commentary. Yeah, I had to emphasize a bit on the pure heart that Nina had before being brought over to the Academy of Evil, which goes to show the fact that not every villain (villainess?) has to be totally vicious. I saw her as a great character in Twinsanity and I hope she gets some strong roles in the future.

Well, I've got nothing much else to say, than to make sure you enjoy the part through and through.

Peace out,

-Rexy-

* * *

The sights of the island from the mountain tops were shown to be more vast than expected. The sides of the volcano were seen to the left, the remaining plants were shown to be set in a worthwhile camouflage-type glory, and the waters were seen glistening through the mild thunder light. 

The sights ended up paying attention to a figure standing within the darkness – a figure with deep green eyes. A short figure with deep green eyes. A short, unusually proportioned figure with deep green eyes.

Another figure ended up coming near him, looking on at the scene around them. The cold winds were brought around their bodies, allowing any hair/clothes to be able to be blown drastically within the currents.

They brought their eyes straight down to the path at the bottom, where several footprints managed to catch their own attention. And they in turn ended up leading towards a portion near the middle of their viewpoint.

Right there, they saw Crash walking with his hands on his head, showing a light smile upon his own face; meanwhile, Cortex and Nina were seen showing reflective looks as they walked much more seriously.

"Crash Bandicoot, I see you have escaped from your little prison", it spoke with a light toned yet menacing voice.

The short figure leered on at the scene ahead with its own eyes, its pupils shrinking down in a menacing fashion. The aspect of happiness shown upon the bandicoot's face only just left him to shake one of his rounded hands with rage.

In turn, it shifted its eyes back towards the other shadow – a muscular figure that showed nothing but monstrous pupil-less eyes. That in turn brought its face towards its partner, a very faint sigh escaping from his mouth.

All that the second figure would was eventually show a wide-eyed expression towards his partner, whom in turn ended up looking down towards the ground, its teeth starting to grit within the darkness. It then brought its face back up.

"This can be a light problem abound. I expect you to go down there and settle this."

And then, the second creature started to march his way straight away from his opponent, leaving behind several deep footprints across the sandy ground. Its limbs were seen hanging down as tight as possible.

It then managed to reach a spot at the other end of the clearing, where several smaller shadows were seen making their walk around the area themselves, their facial expressions showing a lack of emotion around them.

As soon as the broader figure came near them, they all looked up at him together, their eyes rapidly blinking towards his. They eventually stepped out into the light, showing themselves as another set of furry bird creatures.

"Let's go", he spoke with a deep growl-type voice.

And within an instant, most of the squadron started to make their run right across the cliff tops, their arms being extended as they did so and their faces showing a more sleek expression all around them.

Eventually they reached the edge of the cliff, and they all jumped straight off together, falling their way straight down towards the ground. But before they could even touch the surface, they used their wings to gracefully soar straight up into the air.

Their bodies eventually managed to reach the same level as the light of the sun, currently white and granting off an eerie light essence to match that with the neon thunder strikes. Within the light view, the broader figure ended up smiling on at its comrades.

And it wasn't long that he decided to make his run towards the cliff side himself, zooming straight past the short, unevenly-shaped figure. There, it made its pounce straight towards the ground, almost destined to crash towards the ground without wings.

Suddenly, it managed to hover its way back up, showing it being supported by a jet pack. It then hovered its way towards the others at a fast and furious pace, its menacing limbs being stretched straight out in front of it.

* * *

Back down at the pathway, the waters were seen continuing to crash straight upon the surface of the sand, providing a light amount of dampened nature around the sandy textures. Some of which even started to wash away the footprints as left behind by Crash, Cortex and Nina. 

They themselves were seen with their focuses either being fixed towards the path ahead, or towards the metallic structures that were left on top of the hill itself. Within the group, Cortex's expression showed more dread at the sight of them.

All of a sudden, several white plasma shots came from above and crashed straight down onto the ground, leaving marks upon the dry ground that were a mere two centimeters from Cortex's feet. He ended up jumping up with fright.

"AAARGH!" he panicked.

Nina quickly tried to reach for him. "Uncle Neo!"

With a widened expression, Nina managed to approach him and brought her arms around his body, careful not to pierce his skin with her own two hands. There, he pointed up, where a black dot shape was seen blocking the neon lighted skies.

"I thought I saw something above!" Cortex exclaimed as he looked up.

Crash's eyes squinted. "Let me see..."

Crash managed to stand still, twitched his eyes and looked straight on at the black dot up ahead. There, it soon expanded into several dots all at once, coming closer and closer down towards the scene.

Eventually, they were shown in full focus – most of which were shown to be the same type of furry bird figures that attacked Cortex and Nina, but this time they were lead by a creature that was three to four times their size, with menacing claws instead of wings, and was seen using a jetpack to fly onto the scene.

"I can recognize that monster", gasped the bandicoot. "That was the same one that imprisoned me!"

Eventually, the figures managed to reach the group and circled them. Their menacing motions were still seen around them, leaving them to show shaky expressions back. That was shown even more so on Cortex, whom ended up taking a grasp onto a nearby tree to show his cowardice.

And eventually, one by one, the birds started to fly straight down towards the scene, showing their devious expressions as they managed to come closer. There, Crash pointed on at their motions with a widened face.

"Take cover!"

And just as when some of which were about to swoop down towards them, they all ended up ducking together. Most of the birds ended up squealing as they ended up hovering back up, unsuccessfully.

There, within the group, the larger figure ended up making his landing upon the ground, leering straight on at his opponents with his own menacing eyes. Within the others, Nina showed no fear upon her own emotion.

"If that's how he wants to mess with us, there's only one thing for it - to fight back!"

"Can't we make a run for it?" questioned Cortex with hesitance. "I'm not risking my life to fight this thing!"

While that happened, the creatures eventually ended up surrounding all the portions of the pathway around them, leaving Crash, Cortex and Nina to be trapped within a circle of a 50 meter radius, getting smaller over time.

Cortex gave out a light gulp. "On second thoughts...?"

With hesitance, he ended up bringing his laser out from his possession, ready to fight on at the figures around him. They were advancing closer and closer, showing further rage upon their faces as time advanced.

And near the back of the group, the group leader showed the most devious expression of all, his fang like teeth showing through his own furry chin. His thick eyebrows and pupil-less eyes were also shown to be just as horrifying as ever.

Eventually, Crash ended up reflecting the same expressions back, with his own hands clutched tightly with determination. He then gave out a devious smile, before bringing himself into a wide stride.

"Let's rock!" Crash smirked on.

And there, he started to charge his way straight towards the squadron, his own hands brought to his sides. As soon as he managed to approach some of the squad members, he brought himself into a powerful spin that knocked some of the creatures off their feat and across the clearing.

While that happened, Cortex and Nina fought back with teamwork, where the grasp of her hand extensions and his laser shots ended up helping in making their opponents vulnerable to their attacks.

Back with Crash, he was about to tackle through a further amount of opponents ahead of him, but… that was until some of which drew out their own pistols, aiming them straight towards his own body.

"Oh great...!"

And just like that, more of the opponents came from behind him and ended up raising him off his feet. That left him to start wriggling from his own motion – not even his own strength was strong enough to pull him free from the grasp.

"Crash!" Nina shouted from her position.

"Get me off this thing!"

Nina looked on at Crash, and then back at Cortex. There, he was seen fighting hard from the top of a nearby palm tree, using his laser to shoot his enemies from down below. She gave off a warm smile before running towards the bandicoot's direction.

There, she ended up making a giant jump right above the invading forces, performing a forward somersault as she did so. Once back on both feet, she turned towards them and showed a vicious smirk upon them.

"You've had this coming for a long time!" she shouted with determination.

There, she sent forward her own hands and ended up taking a tight grip upon his back. There, he started to struggle to cope under her own strain, leaving him to end up dropping Crash and giving him the chance to escape.

He himself ended up trying to flee to the nearby cliff tops, but before he could do so he ended up being grabbed from behind via the group leader's grasp. His piercing hands left him to struggle his way out.

Back with Nina, the chains were left to hold on tightly upon her own smaller opponent. While that happened, most of the other group members' laser shots were sent towards her, leaving her to jump over her own opponent and in turn leaving the shots to end up striking her own opponent down.

"Didn't the weatherman tell you to watch out for storms today?" she smirked towards her opponents.

She smirked as she released her grip upon the fallen figure. There, most of the others gradually started to come near her with growing smirks upon their own faces, determined to be able to fight her further.

Back with Cortex, he continued to fight hard against the forces surrounding the tree he was sitting upon. Eventually, most of which were brought down by his own laser shots, leaving him to show success upon his own face. But… that was until a crack occurred at the bottom of the tree.

"Mother!" Cortex screamed with worry.

He looked down, and saw the group leader using one hand to slash upon the tree, while holding a barely-alive Crash in the other. That in turn left the tree to start falling down towards the ground like a solo domino.

And eventually it crashed upon the ground, leaving Cortex to end up rolling upon the ground before bringing himself back on both feet. There, the figure started to chase him, leaving him to try and run away from his own grasp.

"Fight back, Uncle Neo!" cheered Nina from nearby. "I know that you can handle it!"

In the background, Nina managed to find her own success by using her hands to fight from a nearby wall. As soon as most of the enemies were attacked, she sent her traps towards the group leader, whom ended up stopping in his tracks for a short period of time. While that happened, Cortex looked upon his own laser gun while running from the group leader, scrolling through the many options his weapon provided.

His hands started to shake. "Great, which one's the Instant Death option?"

"Be quick!" Nina commanded with a struggle. "I can't hold him much longer!"

She tried to hold on tightly upon the chains, trying to maintain her grip as firmly as she can. But eventually, her grasp was starting to be cut short, leaving her to eventually fly off the wall and land on the sand, leaving her to use her feet as a brake… although not as successful as planned.

And in turn, the strain upon the chain was gradually starting to become rougher. She tried her best to pull back as far as she can go, but… unfortunately for her she was forced off her feet, leaving her to fly onto the sand with failure.

"AAARGH!" she squealed as she landed on her stomach.

All she could do from her position was just watch as the monster eventually managed to catch up with Cortex, and once there it took a hold upon his body, leaving him to start wriggling out from his own awkward position.

And just like that, he hurled him straight towards a nearby tree, leaving him to crash into it head first. That in turn left him to throw Crash near the water's edge, with his face being brought down into the shallow waters.

"RRRROOAARRRR!"

He then brought one final glance towards Nina, whom ended up starting to shake at the sight of its own expressions. It gave off menacing footsteps as it managed to come near her, its snarl easily showing upon its own face.

And then, it brought its hands straight down towards the ground, in a vague attempt to reach for Nina's chains linking to the bear traps on her hands, only to have her reel them in first. It lightly cursed under its breath before approaching her further.

And right there, she knew that she wouldn't stand much of a chance against him. She even looked in the directions around her, where she ended up seeing a lot of smaller monsters gradually making her way towards her, surrounding her on all angles if not going around her fallen comrades. She knew for a fact that she may not escape her opponents' wrath.

"Leave them alone!" screamed a nearby male voice.

And then, from right at the top of the cliffs, came several shadows blocking the groups' view. They were shown to be figures with broad and sleek portions all around them, with the exception of a slightly muscle-bound figure standing near them.

All three figures jumped straight down towards the ground, landing with elegant looks all around them. They ended up looking on at one another with broad expressions upon them, in spite of them still being obscured by darkness.

"That's it, ladies!" the lead shadow exclaimed. "Let's get around to surrounding the thing!"

And then, all three of them started to make their run across the clearing, running straight towards the fallen fighters. There, their expressions continued to show determination left right and center, all through their own piercing eyes.

Within the group came a figure with a long ponytail, and her height revealing her to be the shortest of the group. There, she brought herself into a flying kick towards some of the soldiers while advancing towards Crash.

There, she placed a hand upon his body, before bringing his head towards hers. Over time she was brought into the light, showing herself to have blonde hair with a blue flower placed within it, deep green eyes upon her, a white t-shirt being covered by a denim set of dungarees and pink shoes upon her. She was a bandicoot, just like Crash.

"Up you go!" she smiled on at him.

Crash instantly recognized her. "Coco?"

He opened his eyes, and ended up seeing her into full focus, thus revealing his face right in front of her. At the sight of his expression, she ended up startled, thus taking a light step back at his own response.

"Aaah!" she said with a light squeal. "Crash! Where have you been all these weeks?"

"I don't have time, I should explain later!"

Coco's expression continued to show shock upon her, before she eventually ended up taking a hold upon Crash's arms and brought him up onto both feet. There, they looked ahead of them and saw the fight gradually coming through into their own hands.

At another part of the clearing, another shadowed figure – one wearing a very long dress – was seen making its advance towards Nina. There, it brought out some muscular arms and sent them straight towards the opposing party.

Once it cut through the smaller party, it turned around and started throwing them one by one, either into the water, into the walls or right into other enemies, leaving it to show a determined smile upon it.

"Eat dust, sucker!" he exclaimed with a rough male voice.

The figure himself then advanced into the light, showing him as a brown-red bandicoot creature with deep blue eyes, a muscular tone upon his body… and a ridiculous black dress all around him. That left Nina to show a face filled with shock upon her.

"Crunch? You're working with him too?" Nina gasped with wonder. "And… what's with the dress?"

"It's a uniform", he shrugged. "Besides, it's the least I could do to keep this planet alive! And wherever comrades like Coco go, I come with them. I didn't want to lose her like we lost Crash to start with."

He then pointed on at Crash and Coco in the background, where they were both coming closer towards them, showing relief all around them. That in turn left them to see into the final corner of the clearing, as currently inhabited by three figures – Cortex, the enemy leader, and the final of the three shadows.

The third shadow ended up fighting his way past the broad army leader himself, using his hands and legs to be able to attack his own opponents with ease. They in turn ended up retreating before they could do anything else.

"Are you okay, sir?" he asked with a deep Australian accent.

Right there, the figure ended up bringing his attention straight towards Cortex himself. He brought him onto his back, leaving him to end up widening his eyes at the sight of the figure around him – a white pelican creature with pilot clothing all around him and deep blue eyes.

"Wait a minute, you look fondly familiar..." he paused. "You're that scientist that terrorized these islands with those damn machines of yours! Mr. Cortex?"

"By the way you're taking it you must be this Kyle-Jovi character everyone's on about", Cortex said with a twitch of the eye.

"That I am, but why should I go around helping you anyway?" sighed the pelican. "You wanted to destroy one little bandicoot just so you could take the world by your own two hands."

He leered on at Cortex with his own menacing eyes and his beak twitching harshly towards his direction. At the sight of his response, Cortex started to shake at his own response, his lips gradually quivering.

"It could have been easier if we just fed you to the sharks... or even better!" he smirked.

And it was there that he brought one of his hands straight into a brown sash being brought around his body. Hidden there was a small gun, where his arms instantly managed to take a tight grip all around it.

He pulled it out, and then pointed it straight on at Cortex himself. He knew what that kind of weapon was from its own designs – a laser gun, but this particular one was given the colors of green and silver all around it.

Kyle gradually brought the gun closer and closer towards Cortex, his eyes showing a leering motion around him. There, Cortex started to shake rapidly, knowing that he would end up being killed on the spot, all for one past event. But…

"Leave him alone!"

Kyle's expression showed surprise at the sound of the voice. And right in front of him came Crash's own two feet, blocking him from shooting Cortex in the first place. His expression showed hesitance upon his own two eyes.

There, Kyle pulled back the trigger and leered straight back towards the orange marsupial. How can he be defending Cortex just like that, he thought to himself. He then picked up the courage to speak, his hands shaking with rage.

"Crash, what are you doing?" Kyle exclaimed. "Why do you want to ally with the enemy?"

"Look, I know you may have had problems with Cortex yourself, and I must have also had problems."

Crash came to a light pause, his eyes being focused upon the ground. He then turned towards Cortex, whose weakened expression gradually started to show some further rays of hope all around him.

"Just look at him", he said with a light nod. "There may have been times when he acted selfish and facing severe hate for our kind, showing that through his own stubborn mind."

"HEY!" Cortex shouted with a light amount of rage.

"But the fact is, he came to this island, and one thing that I saw him and Nina do was save me from the invaders' stronghold. If it weren't for those two, I might have been dead the following week. What kind of hope does the world have?"

While Crash spoke, Kyle ended up with a widened look all around him. And it wasn't long until he eventually brought himself onto his knees, looking on at the pair from his own angle, his eyes showing a more regretful look than before.

Eventually, he gave off a light smile that was soon reflected right across his long beak. He looked on at Cortex – surprised to see that he wasn't actually a part of the opposing birds themselves. Then, he gave off a serious nod back.

"Suppose that can be fair", he said with a light blink. "As long as he's alive and not on the opposing side, I suppose we could take him into our own team and see what we can do."

Cortex's eyes widened with shock. He knew that he would have been taken down by other anthros had he not been granted support from Crash. There, he ended up giving off a relieved smile back towards the pelican.

"Thanks Kyle, for everything you've done to keep this island stable."

The pelican looked on at him. "Hey, I was just doing my job."

He winked back at his direction, and that in turn left them both to see straight towards the waters that managed to surround the scene. There, they showed a more menacing status than before, showing a more unsettling feeling through the choppy structures.

The pelican walked his way towards the surface, and brought his face over the side. There, his reflection was showcased at a solid state throughout, which was soon disrupted naturally by the water's flow.

And there, he took a step back and eventually managed to run his way across the waters like a fast tightrope walker, going as far along the surface as he can go without sinking deep. From there, he jumped straight up into the sky.

He then started to fly his way towards a nearby housed settlement ahead of him, situated near more cliffs along the coast line. This left Crash and the others to end up making their walk alongside the sands to be able to catch up with him.

And thus, they knew that a brighter tomorrow was about to come their way.

* * *

"So I take this is your HQ, is it?" Nina asked Kyle, Coco and Crunch. 

"We've got plenty of strategies and castaways where that came from", Crunch said with a smile. "There were few survivors that managed to reach our own hands, but we tried our best."

A small brown hut was seen at the edge of the waters towards the Western portions of the island. And it was there that they all steadily approached the building together, with relaxed expressions all around them.

Kyle followed the honors of opening the door, and right there they were brought into the glance of a small mission control type room, holding a few people within its place when required. And it was there that the group pointed on at a select few of which.

"I see Polar and Pura in the far corner!" Crash smiled as he saw a tiger cub and a polar bear that's the same size.

"Tiny! Pinstripe! Ripper Roo!" Cortex gasped as he saw a muscular tiger creature, a mafia-dressed potoroo and a blue kangaroo donning a straight jacket. "How did they manage to survive all this?"

"Are those the Komodo Brothers in that far corner?" Nina smiled as she pointed

They in turn gradually waved back at the three, whom were in turn relieved that there were some people on the island that managed to survive the enemies' wave of terror. They in turn walked further around the room, looking on at the settings.

Within them, several glowing panels were seen on top of various machinery scattered all around the room. And sitting near one in a corner, Kyle ended up bringing his eyes towards a nearby radar panel, and in turn smiled on at it.

"We still have a few spies around the fortress yet, so don't think that's all you'll see around here."

He gave off a confident look while looking on at the others, minus Crunch whom was seen taking a pair of army camouflage pants and vanished into the changing rooms with it. Within the group, Cortex stepped forward, his eyes showing a complex expression of curiosity.

"I still need to understand the situation", Cortex blinked. "I mean, what made you get up there and show yourself as a strategic team to begin with?"

"Three months ago", started Kyle, "we have had strange invading outside forces from twisted furry bird animals we can only refer to as "Squadron Gemini". Crash tried to fight them off, but he got captured by the gang leader. I got word from Crunch and Coco about this, and it was there that we needed to get in there and provide some much needed support to the troubled people around this island."

Kyle ended up sighing, before he managed to sit straight onto a nearby chair with his legs all twitching together. He then brought his attention to several pictures on a nearby wall, which all seemed to hold pictures of the bird creatures as once fought with.

While that happened, Crunch ended up making his way out from the dressing rooms and back into the viewpoint again, with his camouflage pants placed straight onto him in a well dressed sense.

"Ironically, I wasn't the only one who staged the attacks on the team", Kyle smiled. "I am a commando as assigned by our boss, the Black Seagull. It was that figure alone who decided to reclaim the island for what it was again."

Kyle then brought his eyes towards another picture on the wall – an image of a human figure wearing a lot of black clothes. A masquerade mask was seen hiding the Seagull's identity, and a lot of majestic armor was placed around the body. He then made his turn towards Crash and the others with a steady smile showing.

"Crash, seeing you get freed was a firm enough start", he smiled. "And for that, we'll need to assign a few posts out here. We've got enough strength to infiltrate the war factory on the top of this island."

He then locked his hands into a determined motion, showing a vicious smile all around him. While that happened, all that Crash could do was just look on at his partners with a widened expression upon his mouth.

"I want you all to get towards the factory, and meet with our spies", the pelican commanded. "You can recognize one of them by her gray and silver striped tail. They'll set you up into your own key points on the operation."

He then looked his way out of the nearby window, where the stronghold was brought into his viewpoint. Its black smoke was seen rising straight up from the roofs around it, allowing for a haunting atmosphere all around it.

"Crunch will show you to the door", Kyle said as he clicked his fingers towards him.

"I'll be on it!"

Kyle faced Crunch, whom gave out a salute back. There, he managed to make his walk straight towards the front door, and opened it up as steadily as he can. It gave out a creak as it was opened up steadily.

There, he managed to walk out of the door, leaving Crash, Cortex and Nina to follow in a single file motion. The sounds of the strong coastal winds were brought straight into listening range from inside, before the door was closed gracefully.

Silence was then brought around the room as most of the others eventually managed to return to either dealing with paperwork or re-structuring various combat weapons for the incoming battle. That was left with the exception of Coco, whom ended up with a hesitant look as she turned back towards her pelican partner.

"Do you think they'll be alright, Kyle?" she asked him.

"Sure, I mean…" he gave out a light blink back. "If the spies are able to last longer than 2 weeks inside a war facility, so can them. Be sure to have some good optimism, Coco."

Kyle looked on at Coco with a relaxed expression, while she herself remained in silence. She then ended up in deep thought, thinking back over the events that happened to her within the past three months.

Seeing Crash imprisoned was one thing, and she didn't want to be able to lose him again. And what if Crunch was brought into captivity too? She knew that her role within the rebellion will be a difficult one no matter what comes out of it.

She looked at a nearby corner, and saw Polar and Pura interacting with a friendly game of chess. And then she turned towards another corner, where Tiny, Pinstripe and Ripper Roo were seen in a game of poker. While most of them were seen playing in a sensible fashion, Roo ended up chewing on his own cards.

In her viewpoint, the Komodo Brothers were the only spy members whom were actually working, with Joe typing on a nearby computer panel and monitoring the team's spies through the radar system. Moe however was seen shredding unimportant paper documents with his swords.

She saw herself to be in a relaxed environment. But as she may eventually realize, the environment may not be enough to satisfy her needs. And as far as she knew, the haunting nature of the outside world will still plague her mind as time wonders on.

-end of part 2-


	3. Stealth in Numbers

AUTHOR NOTES-

Third part for this fic is past approaching, and it's here that the basic structures for the Spy portion of the rebellion are brought into their full light. It's here that Kazaa is introduced to the reader, as well as a surprise granted towards the Black Seagull. We also dive into one of the driving forces behind the invasion for Squadron Gemini, and one that could be worth of a shock if not careful.

Going through the response from last time, thanks for your commentary even if you just read and didn't leave any commentary.

Crashfan, to answer your concern over Crunch's dress uniform, that can be shown as a light military joke. If anyone here has played _Ratchet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal_, you'll know that the main leader of the Galactic Rangers referred to the other troops as "ladies", which I felt was a common missionary term. And given that Kyle was commanding Coco and Crunch together, nature just had to run its course. Heh.

Back to the current part. I can't really say much, but enjoy this as much as I did writing the past two. :)

Peace out,

Rexy-

* * *

The skies around N. Sanity Island were shown to be gradually getting darker as time managed to advance. Dark black clouds started to cover the crimson skies, and the waters among the ocean line were struggling to get unstable. 

The wind currents were getting stronger with every passing second, causing some of the leaves fallen from the trees to eventually pick up from their own individual positions. Some of which skimmed across the ground, while others were sent straight into the sky.

The dust upon the path was seen gradually causing a light sandstorm upon the ground, in turn revealing a lot of stone upon the ground surface. There, that in effect revealed a path filled with cobbled stones all around.

Further up the path, Crunch was seen leading Crash, Cortex and Nina towards the bottom of the cliff sides that were mainly placed towards the center of the island. Their expressions were shown to be varied, from Nina's relaxed looks, to Crash's determination, all the way through to Cortex's cowardice.

And then, Crunch brought out both hands, causing everyone to end up making a stop right at the foot of the cliffs. They looked up, where the general scenes around them were shown to be more haunting than ever.

"There's the target stronghold", the brown bandicoot smiled. "It'll be a long climb to get to the gates, but it'll all be worth it."

Crunch pointed straight up at the top of the cliff, where a strong metallic structure was seen sitting right at the top of the tallest mountain – a mountain so tall it ended up touching the clouds with its colossal structures.

The general familiarization of the scene left Cortex's eyes to instantly widen at the sight of them, before a face filled with deep sorrow suddenly started to show upon his own eyes. That soon caught the attention of Crunch from nearby.

"Are you guys okay?"

He showed a face filled with concern at them all, thinking that they might have faced a wrong turn somewhere. Within the group, Cortex ended up showing a face filled with rage to match with his pain. His hands were clutched tightly, and his teeth were seen gritting tighter than before.

"What have they done to my castle here?"

"Wait a minute..." Crunch paused while looking closer towards Cortex. "You're telling me Castle Cortex has been replaced? At this moment in time?"

"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that one out!"

He ended up climbing up onto Crunch's shoulders, and thus forcing his head to end up looking in his direction. There, the brown bandicoot's expression showed a face filled with shock upon him, before he took him off and placed him back on the ground.

"Relax, Uncle", smiled Nina from the background. "I'm sure there's a way that we can be able to reclaim your pride on who you are. We'll be sure to rebuild the island back up again."

Crash, however, responded with a shrug. "The problem is... it may take a bit longer than we expect."

Crash gave out a light sigh before looking straight back up towards the stronghold, where which had its shadow cast straight over them, obscuring them within the darker shades of the island's environment.

A thunderclap occurred right above them, allowing it to be able to ring through their own ears over time. This has left for a monstrous scene to start to evoke around their listening points, causing them to end up joining hands (or arms in Nina's case) as they approached the wall.

And there, they knew that they would be up for tough excursion up towards the stronghold.

* * *

A rain storm was seen crashing down upon the island's surface, causing several ripples to show upon the waters around it. The plants were seen getting damper, and various aspects of mud were seen developing upon the ground. 

Some of the rain even made its way down through vertical streams along the cliff sides. There, the watery surfaces ended up crashing further down towards the planet's surface, landing with harsh splashes within the ground.

Along the cliff sides, Crunch was seen leading the group through climbing up a wall to be able to reach the cliff sides, with most of the others behind him. He then ended up pulling himself onto a nearby ledge, showing a smile filled with relief as he did so.

"Just a few more ledges to climb. We're almost there!"

He then ended up making his way towards the next ledge, leaving Nina to end up coming onto the ledge next. She smiled as she managed to settle firmly onto both feet… only to hear a crack from down below.

"Oh no, not again!" shouted Cortex's voice from a lower altitude.

She quickly turned around. "I've got you!"

She looked down below and saw Cortex holding onto a smaller ledge, which was starting to crumble into pieces. And then, it broke, leaving Nina to use the bear traps on her hands to reach for Cortex. And in natural fashion, the grip around his hands was at a painful gripping state.

"AIEEE!"

"Relax", said Crash from lower down the cliff. "I've managed to get you covered!"

From the other side, Crash managed to take a grip upon his other hand, leaving him and Nina to end up bringing him up together. Being several feet above the ground, they knew that they would be unable to retreat from their position.

Several minutes later, they all managed to reach the top of the cliff, thus reuniting with Crunch. There, the structures of the war factory were seen in their full glory, with menacing silver and blue structures all around them as well as some copper chimneys upon the top.

"Well, here we are - the entrance to the opposition's stronghold", Crunch winked. "Our spies are located in a quiet sector towards the West Wing. You'll need this to get in there."

Crunch turned towards Crash, and brought his hands into his pockets as he managed to do so. There, he pulled out a small whistle-shaped object, which in itself was colored a lemon yellow and had a plastic coat all around it.

"A kazoo?" Crash asked with a confused tone.

"It's the only sound that will give us authority inside that part of the building" sighed Crunch.

Crunch shrugged before he ended up making his way straight towards the main doors of the building. There, he used his hands to thrust the entrance straight open, leaving him to step inside first.

Crash's eyes remained fixed upon the kazoo. "Please don't tell me this is some kind of joke..."

"If that's what he's intending, then that's what he's intending", Nina frowned upsettingly. "Sorry Crash."

Nina gave off a light shrug, before the remainder of the group ended up making their way within the building themselves. The eerie lights from outside soon managed to fade into nothing more than darkness all around them.

Within the deeper reaches of the corridor, Crash looked straight down at the kazoo. He wondered what the purpose of the object was when needed, and had an irrational eye twitch as he placed it within his own pocket.

As they managed to turn various corners around the corridor, the lights were gradually coming back into focus, thus presenting some further warmth around them. However, much of it was shown to be the equivalent to red mist.

* * *

The eerie lighting continued as the team managed to make their journey further and further into the building. Strobe lights were seen flicking among the control panels around them every now and again, to help provide some ease on their direction. 

They soon managed to reach a nearby wall that was located towards the left hand side – this one in particular was seen to be covered in ruined pipes and cobwebs, something that would have shown some aspects of unfinished construction around it.

Crunch brought his attention towards the left, and then to the right. There, he saw no signs of any Squadron Gemini troops around them, leaving him to show a relieved smile right upon his face.

"Looks like the coast is clear. It's time to make our move!"

Crash gave out a light nod, before emerging back within his pockets and pulling out the kazoo. He looked down at the structure again, which in turn was still shown to be a bit irrational for his given purpose.

And then he placed the reed within his mouth, thus playing the first few notes of the general Crash theme tune upon them. The sound itself was shown to be too much for Nina, whom in turn tightly closed her eyes at the textures of it.

And right there, the rubble started to crumble down towards the ground, revealing a door. It then opened up on its own, leaving the group to make their way inside the building for itself – a small, isolated basement-type building with nothing but pipes and computer screens making any real significance around it.

"Welcome to our hidden West Wing", Crunch spoke in a warm tone.

"Crunch, I have a question", said Crash with a curious voice. "What exactly do your spies do here?"

"Simple - they provide their own elements of disguise, and grant as much information as they can towards our base. Our boss, the Black Seagull is rumored to be around these parts too."

He then smiled as he looked towards the main corridor from his position. The thoughts relating to the seagull have gestured that that figure itself has managed to work well in providing a firm boost to the rebellion… which in turn left Nina to raise a hand in the air with a curious gesture.

"Now that you mention it, do you know where the Seagull came from?" Nina asked Crunch.

"Not a clue - something that can only be kept within the mind of our beloved commander. I can admit that this warrior has got some good reflex skills to bring us this far."

He ended up giving off a confident look as he ended up sitting on top of a metallic crate on the far corner. He ended up bringing his hands behind his head, showing a relaxed gesture all around him, only to see Cortex emerge with another question.

"And what about the other spy? Do you know how she got pulled into this mess?"

"Nothing much aside from that she came to this island from the depths of the sea", Crunch blinked.

Crash's face suddenly showed interest. "Did you say 'she'?"

"Romantic relationships are not on her agenda right now", the brown bandicoot scowled.

Crunch leered on at Crash from his position, knowing about the true traits behind the spy himself. But little did he know that near him, another shadow was seen making its way in – a cat-like shadow. A hand was placed upon his shoulder, leaving him to jump straight back onto both feet.

"Are you saying that you're refusing to make me fall in love?" said a warm female voice.

Crunch's eyes widened. "Kazaa?"

He ended up looking towards the shadow, which in turn brought itself into the light – a female figure that mainly resembled a cat. She had golden fur, strong metallic copper shoes all around her, a short green skirt, an orange sleeveless shirt, a golden necklace around her head, and long blue hair that was mainly covered by an orange headscarf.

Her deep blue eyes were soon locked onto Crunch's viewpoint, and her gray and silver striped fish-like tail was seen twitching side to side with deep curiosity around her. There, the brown bandicoot gave off a light nervous smile at her.

"Ah, I never saw you emerge from behind! What a coincidence!"

She ended up bringing her eyes towards Crash and the others. "Hm, I see you managed to bring in some worthy company too?"

She looked on at Crash, Cortex and Nina one by one. And within the pack, she ended up with a light expression of shock upon seeing Crash in the fur. There, she ended up pointing on at him with her paw-like hands.

"Wait a minute, that's that worthy Crash Bandicoot guy you've been telling us all about", she smiled pleasantly. "Interesting. Wonder how he managed to escape his prison cell alive?"

Cortex instantly took a step forward. "That was us. Nina and I will be bound to show some gratitude for what we have managed to achieve."

Kazaa looked on at Cortex and Nina, curious over what happened. She knew for a fact that the former wanted to take over the world through many different occasions, and she didn't even know of his niece before.

But given the dangers behind the current situation, she ended up giving off a light smile, allowing the past to slide for a while. There, she walked around the room, her tail continuing to twitch as time continued on.

"You know, even though you've done enough for the time being" she casually looked on at the others, "I feel you could have been given some further upbeat statuses to be able to last your time against the fight. Given your statuses, I doubt you'll be able to last long in the group."

Crash's eyes were brought into a light leer. "We just want to eliminate the opposition, without a doubt."

"You're asking for it?"

Kazaa gave off a curious smile as she turned straight back towards Crash. There, he ended up showing a confident expression back at her, leaving her to show a curious twitch around her before heading her way into the middle of the room.

She brought a careful glance towards Crunch within the corner, whom in turn ended up making his way towards the others with an expressionless look all around him. Once that happened, she opened her mouth to speak.

"If that's the case, I'll lead you in onto some crucial key points to cover for the team. Crunch, you can take Crash with you down to the basement to take a closer analysis at the heart of the enemy operation. Cortex and Nina, I believe the Black Seagull will give you a hand on providing some additional energy towards your grasp. That way, we'll be sure to survive the war for sure."

"Kazaa", Cortex started to speak, "do you have any idea where these opponents came from?"

"Ask the Seagull yourself, because she seemed to be the only person that witnessed it."

She gave off a light scowl in his direction as she spoke, leaving Cortex to show a light amount of fear upon his own eyes. That left Nina to end up gesturing with a light nod filled with reassurance.

Then, Kazaa soon ended up opening the door once more, to reveal the way back outside. There, they were both brought straight back out into the corridors that linked the individual rooms of the stronghold together.

"Bird-like monsters, a twisted N. Sanity Island and now this?" Cortex started to panic. "If there's something I did wrong when out in the tenth dimension last year-"

"I doubt it, Uncle", Nina smiled. "I assure you that given what we're facing up against, there's nothing to worry about."

She ended up grasping his neck with her elbow, at a rather gentle pace around her. That left Cortex to look straight back at her, with his own expression continuing to show his own feelings of anxiety.

Could Nina be right, he thought. It could have been true that he ended up facing much worse, but given the rather unfriendly situation brought all around the island at that moment in time... it's shown that almost anything could go.

Those thoughts were fixed further as they ended up making their way further up the darkened red-mist-filled corridors, waiting to see what the so-called Black Seagull figure had in mind for them.

* * *

The darkened corridors that were brought ahead of Cortex and Nina gradually started to show more light upon the walls. And then, they managed to end up with a beautiful gold tint showing upon the vertical structures. 

It wasn't long until they reached a mission control type room that was similar to Kyle's headquarters, except that this room was shown to be much cleaner and emptier. Their expressions showed curiosity as they went further around the room.

And it wasn't long until they saw a cubicle door covered in obscure glass right at the left hand side of the room, where a black shadow was seen typing out on a few panels near its grasp. Within the silence, Cortex managed to step forward to speak.

"Hello? Kazaa sent me to search for a 'Black Seagull'?"

"Yeah, that's me", the figure responded in a faint-pitched motherly tone.

Cortex's eyes widened. "Wait a minute, you're a she?"

Cortex instantly gasped on at the Seagull's feminine structure – short hair gracing upon her shoulders, some strong womanly features given the legs and the sleek arms, and the graceful nature upon her own casual movements. During his examination upon her body, Nina ended up bringing out one of her hands and slapping him – harshly – upon the head.

"Nina!" he exclaimed in pain.

"Forget about my martial status, soldier", the Seagull responded. "Are you asking for a way to go towards the opponent?"

"I'm sure I am", he smiled back. "But... where did you come from anyway?"

"Mind your own business! This is a rebellion I'm trying to run here, not a dating agency!"

Cortex started to blush. He then turned towards Nina, whom could just look back with an agitated expression. But time soon passed, leaving them both to end up making a step closer towards the cubicle itself.

"You know, I feel you'll do well enough on the front lines, skipper", she giggled to herself.

Cortex looked down at his own two hands, curious over her words. "But I can't attack with this feeble body, and knowing how we encountered the enemy's leader a few hours ago, even Nina has had a few problems of her own."

"Your daughter, I presume?"

"She's my NIECE!"

"Yeah, whatever", she said sarcastically. "Listen, I'll pass you a weapon that was dropped from one of our spies up on Meteor Mountain sometime last week."

She then picked up a weapon from within her cubicle, and placed it within a shaft on her right wall. She then closed it, leaving it to slide its way to another hatch towards the walls near Cortex, where he ended up opening it in an instant.

"Promise me you'll do some good with this thing when sending it towards the Gemini leader", she said in a positive tone. "He has an office ahead of here. Can't miss it."

Right in front of him, he ended up seeing towards a genuine flamethrower, complete with an energy tank that seems to be bigger than his body. He ended up gasping at the size of the structure, feeling uncertain over how to carry the weight.

Within the background, Nina ended up catching her eyes towards a nearby pushcart made out of metal, which she ended up pushing towards Cortex in an instant. They then placed the tank onto there, and that left him to jump onto the front of the cart itself, using one leg to end up pushing himself further ahead.

But the thought behind the Seagull herself was brought through his head. The genuine structure of her and her mysterious true identity left him showing some curiosity over what she faced to get onto the island in the first place. Alas, those thoughts were pushed away as he and Nina started to approach what was presumed to be the whereabouts of the leader of Squadron Gemini.

* * *

In another part of the fortress, several guards were seen making their march up and down the scene, leaving behind their vicious footsteps all around them. Silence was brought upon their mouths, leaving them with their minds in deep thought as they went around the scene. 

Above them, a set of shafts were seen hanging above them, and some of which were shown to be creaking in their own right. That left some of which to look up and analyze them with their own eyes.

For two seconds, the creaking wasn't set. That in turn left them to end up going back to their patrolling business. Underneath the vent was a bar-based opening, where Crash and Crunch were seen on their hands and knees, going within the narrow metallic spaces.

"I hate these underground missions", Crunch sighed. "Kazaa always gives me the most impossible vents to try and crawl through."

"Shut up Crunch", growled Crash. "You could distract the guards beneath us!"

There, Crash quickly took a tight grip around Crunch's hand, leaving them both to continue further up the ventilation shaft. That in turn brought them out of sight from the opening below them, leaving them to continue making their way further up front.

Eventually, they came towards the end of the vent – a rounded spherical cubicle that was about an inch smaller than Crash – perfect room for them to sit down and see through a broken fan, just to see into the room in front of them – one filled with state-of-the-art machinery and various other guards.

"So I take this must be the heart of the operation huh?" Crash ended up questioning Crunch.

He responded back with a nod. "I'm going in with the recon photos!"

Crunch placed his hands within his pockets, and ended up bringing out a small black box-shaped device with a red strobe light on the top of it, as well as a microscopic lens at the front and a cylinder shaped button at the top – a spy camera.

"Whoa, where did you get that thing?" Crash asked with surprise.

"Kyle provided it with me when I first signed up for the rebellion. Handy thing, huh?"

He smiled at the small device, which seemed to be no bugger than his thumb in size. And then he ended up leaning up close towards the barred entrance, and started taking photographs of the many different machines and guards all around the area.

While that happened, Crash ended up looking on at the situation via climbing onto Crunch's back and seeing a more escalated view of the whole scene. There, he ended up taking note of a machine right in the center of the room – a warp-like device with various purple light particles zooming around it.

"Now I've never seen that machine before", Crunch smiled with a serious tone. "Any idea where it came from Crash?"

His eyes just widened at its basic structures. "It looks almost just like Dr. Cortex's Psychotron..."

Crash thought back towards the basic structures of the machine, which familiarized him with the same crystal powered machine that was used to take him to the 10th Dimension, for a final assault towards the Evil Twins at that time a year ago.

But what would a machine like that be doing here, he kept on thinking to himself. There had to be a reason why a warp-type machine had to be applied within the whole operation, but how? Those thoughts were soon erased when he saw two shadows hiding within the light matter.

"Wait, I see something!"

He squinted his eyes and tried to look closer towards the shadows, but to no avail. One of them showed itself in the light, as the leader of the guard ambush that he faced prior to meeting up with Kyle. The other shadow, one much shorter than him, was obscured entirely by darkness.

"The island's twisted formation is complete", said the smaller figure in his usual faint pitched voice. "I feel we should be able to proceed towards the rest of this continent over the next week or so."

"But what about the rebellion that have been sweeping around us?" the bigger creature shouted back. "You know what happened to me this morning, boss!"

"You can put that behind you. Even here their army is too feeble to be able to surround us and attack us just like that!"

It brought out one of its rounded hands and ended up patting the larger creature on the arm. That left him to growl as he made his way straight towards a nearby door, with his crossbred furry/feathered features being shown to Crunch's full exposure.

There, he pressed the button on the camera, thus capturing the figure's full exposure. After the figure left through the front door, both bandicoots ended up showing their own curious expressions upon one another, thinking on about its exact appearance.

"What kind of creature do you suppose is that thing?" Crash asked Crunch.

"A bandibird?" Crunch blinked. "No, wait..." He thought harder. "A birdicoot? Looks interesting to me, I'm sure."

Crash's ears twitched towards his partner's direction. "Maybe that's something we should point out towards Kyle when we next see him. For now, we should get those photos printed as soon as we can."

Crunch gave out a nod of agreement, before he placed the spy camera back within his pocket and made his way back towards the vent that he crawled through to begin with. The tight struggle within the confined spaces was then to show once more.

Then, Crash ended up making his crawl within the vents alongside his partner, trying his best to push him as far as he can go to help emerge straight out from the cramp metallic spaces surrounding them.

But no matter how much noise they seemed to make from the crawling, the rest of the guards were that focused upon the new Psychotron's operation that they didn't at all notice the bandicoots' escape.

* * *

Back within Kyle's headquarters, the remaining rebellion members were seen looking into a more relaxed view of the entire situation. Yet their own tasks seemed to be pretty split among themselves. 

At one corner of the room, Coco was seen looking onto the radars and looking through some hacked security cameras, monitoring the viewpoint from where she was. Polar and Pura were seen on either side of her, leaning on her for comfort.

There, she ended up seeing Crash and Crunch making their way out of the building, with the recon photos at hand, and at the sight of them, she ended up smiling with success straight on at them.

Kyle, however, ended up looking on at a different screen altogether; this one was showing Cortex and Nina coming closer towards the Gemini leader's office. He then ended up with a face filled with concern, as if he was worried that neither of the two would get out alive.

He looked behind him and saw the rest of the scientist's minions standing right behind him. There, they ended up showing their own reassuring expressions, giving the pelican the feeling that Cortex has been through worse trials.

That only just left him to end up sitting on a nearby reclining chair and look on at the ceiling from his position. Various thoughts went through his head – what would the case be like if he never brought Cortex into the rebellion, at all? And how would have Crash survived the jail terms himself?

As far as he knew, those questions would never be answered.

end of part 3-


	4. Unveiling the CODA

AUTHOR NOTES-

Okay, so what have I got to say in part 4 of my Crash fic outing? Much of this area focuses hard around Cortex's approach to squaring off against the leader of the Squadron Gemini with the provisional flamethrower from the Black Seagull. Alas, in true Twinsanity fashion, things have to go horribly wrong. ; This in turn briefly lead into the basis for what I feel is a new act in the storyline, relating to a closer exploration on Meteor Mountain and a lil' engine that I want to call the CODA...

Again I thank those who approached the part and/or dropped a comment since the uploading of part 3 last week. Might as well shift back to what has been granted down the line…

EcoBlood – Glad to see someone else liked the Kazoo reference. I was going to make that an ocarina at first, but I would end up getting my tail pulled by my muse _and _Zelda fans everywhere…

Neo – Good to see you could make it. I take you've got firm interest over the explained torture – that's good to know, and with the way my plot notes are going I'd be revealing a fair few clues relating to Squadron Gemini's purpose on the way. Mreow.

TP – I'll be sure to continue on. Really flattered by your commentary I'm sure, although sometimes I have concern over my paragraphing… but never mind.

Now that that's over… once again, be sure to have fun reading this.

Peace out,

Rexy-

* * *

The corridors of the far side of the stronghold on top - of one of the tallest hills of N. Sanity Island – were seen to be given a deeper set of darkness than some of the earlier rooms, with very minimal light resources given around it. 

The only thing that aided in granting a good sense of light was the familiar red mist that was associated with the stronghold entrance. But even that caused some areas of the floor to show an obscure pathway around it.

Within one corner of the corridors, the leader of the Squadron Gemini was seen making a thunderous walk in a ferocious state all around him. He then made his way towards a nearby doorway and came to a stop.

There, he looked to the left, and then to the right. His expression continued to show just as much bitterness as ever, and that was easily shown upon the tense nature granted all the way around the faint facial details.

He then looked down, thinking hard upon the words granted from the smaller creature within the main operation room. He knew that maintaining an island's structure was difficult, but it's a shame that his mind didn't meat with his co-worker.

"'Even their army is too feeble...' what kind of gesture is that?" he snarled to himself. "My boss has got the wrong end of the stick, I'm sure."

He growled, before thumping his back straight towards the door. But soon after that, he ended up hearing a very faint creak within his ear sight. He cautiously looked around for the cause, but… due to the amount of mist and darkness he could barely see anything.

"I smell a rat, and I know it's not me. It'll come into my grasp, before you know it."

He then growled, before opening the door behind him and making a storm straight inside the room. There, the room was sealed with a slam, causing a wide echo of noise to end up going across the corridors.

Hidden within the mist and darkness from one corridor, two eyes were seen glowing within the darkness. The figures with them eventually stepped out into the faint light, thus only just making them out as Cortex and Nina.

"Is that... the so-called leader that the Black Seagull told us about?" Cortex asked his niece.

"Looks like it according to Kyle's photographs. Wow... very menacing."

Nina showed a deep expression filled with curiosity all around her, mesmerized by the whole creepy settings brought around her. The mist soon managed to creep around her limbs, providing a deep cold temperature all around her.

There, she looked back at Cortex, whose expression gradually started to show more fear over time. She looked on at his own eyes, hoping to know what was emerging within his own worrying mind.

He then managed to take a step back from the sight of the metallic door, with his own expression being maintained within an instant. That left Nina to make his way closer towards him, her face showing a lot of determination.

"But do we have to go in there?" he started to panic. "It's... it's too dark, and I don't like the atmosphere of this place!"

She soon snapped back. "Oh, you coped just fine when you studied at the Academy of Evil! So for that, you'll be sure to stand still here too. Now get in there!"

There, she managed to take a hold upon his hand, leaving him to scream upon the force. Then, she ended up spinning him around in a waltz fashion, before hurling him head first towards the metallic door.

"AAARGH!"

The force of his head upon the door caused a clash upon the structures, which left it to break straight off its hinges. And then, the structure fell straight down towards the ground with an echoing clash.

In the background, Nina managed to smile with a successful grin upon her mouth. Then, she managed to make her way straight towards the door herself, skipping her way as she came ever so closer while taking the flamethrower trolley with her.

Once at the foot of the door, she saw her fallen uncle, still wincing in pain after the throw. There, she took a stride over him – only with the pushcart to end up plowing straight across his body - before facing his direction once more with a vicious look showing within the eyes.

"I apologize for the push there, Uncle. Didn't mean to trip you up or anything", she replied with a sarcastic smirk.

All that Cortex could do was moan with pain. "Don't you dare mention it...?"

With pain and hesitance he ended up making his way back up on both feet. Once there, he brushed his lab shirt, getting rid of all forms of dust which clashed upon the white colors upon his clothes.

There, they looked upon the structures of the room itself. The deep metallic red structures, filled with a light amount of eerie red mist along the ground, have managed to provide a strong amount of haunting atmosphere all around them.

Cortex ended up taking a further hold upon the flamethrower, looking much closer around the room with his eyes showing a more vicious amount of concern as time continued. The unpleasant emptiness even ended up causing his limbs to gradually come around to shaking in their place.

"I don't like it here - it's too quiet", she whispered. "Mind, maybe the creature has hidden somewhere that we don't know about?"

"See, I told you it's not worth being around" sighed Cortex. "We need to escape this domain immediately."

Just as when he managed to say that, a sound of creaking was heard nearby. That left both figures to end up looking straight back towards the door, where a laser fence was portrayed right across the scene.

More and more of those lasers were used, to provide a blood curling blocking – that harsh, the vicious force of the lasers ended up granting a deep feeling of unease even at two feet away from them.

"Then again..." he responded with a gulp, "never mind."

"Welcome to my den, Neo Cortex", growled a deep and menacing voice. "I've heard so much about you."

The voice caught Cortex's attention, where he ended up seeing into a black shadow that was located right at the other side of the room – only its eyes can be seen within the mysterious reaches of the darkness.

"Who goes there?" he asked it with a shout.

"You can only refer to me, as Kaiser Gemini. If there's anything else you want to know, it's all gone under the ashes."

The figure continued to leer straight towards Cortex and Nina, with its eyes providing a deep blood-curdling experience straight towards them both. Then, it managed to stand up on both feet, thus revealing its colossal size.

Within an instant, Cortex reached straight for his laser and pointed it straight towards the figure, with his expression showing a mixed face filled with fear, determination and anger all at the same time.

"Tell me, what do you want with this island?" he asked the monster.

The creature refused to speak. Instead, it stepped further and further within the darkness, revealing its bandicoot-bird status all around it. The bushy eyebrows and the spots upon his head have provided enough fear straight towards both figures.

Cortex took a step closer. "Or if you're refusing to speak, leave it alone!"

All that the Kaiser could do was growl straight towards Cortex himself, with his hands showing a tighter grasp than before. The mixed combination of claws and feathers were seen in providing a menacing gesture right upon him.

There, he picked up a nearby pipe, which in turn was just as wide as his colossal hands. He then threw it straight towards Cortex, whom ended up ducking just in the nick of time while showing shock by the whole ordeal.

"You'll easily regret what you've said, shrimp", he growled back. "I take you're a part of the rebellion?"

Cortex responded back with a nod from his angle, with his teeth starting to grit with a deep amount of anger all around him. He then stood up on both feet, and started backtracking his way towards the pushcart.

"I still need an idea on the Rebellion's purpose", he said with his fists shaking, "but I still know that this place isn't there for you!"

Within an instant, he managed to take a hold upon the flamethrower, and started pulling it up front towards him. There, the demonic creature tried to use its hands in attacking his own opponent, but Cortex was left to keep ducking under his attacks.

There, he finally pulled the trigger for the flamethrower, causing a bright gust of fire to make its way straight out from the nose, allowing it to instantly strike his opponent's body with an incoming gush of heat.

But the Kaiser soon pushed his way out from the flames, and jumped his way towards the other side of the room. That left Cortex to continue making his way towards the scene ahead of him, using his legs to try in bringing the trailer forward in a scooter fashion.

"Nina! I think I need a hand!"

She gave out a light smile from her position. "Coming through!"

Upon his response, Nina ended up making her run straight across the room, performing a cartwheel and a somersault as she made her way there. She soon reached the walls, where she outstretched her arms at the right time.

There, the chains left on the bear traps upon her hands were extended, leaving the clutches to end up grasping themselves around the edge of the pushcart. That left Cortex to hold onto the flamethrower tank, as the cart was suddenly brought forward.

"ARRGH!" the monster panicked from the fire's force.

And it wasn't long until the cart made a stop 2 feet away from his opponent, where within that time the creature tried to escape but Nina used her other hand to take a grasp upon his back before trying her best to hold onto his brute escaping force.

There, Cortex aimed the flamethrower straight towards his opponent – again, the force of the fire was too much for the Kaiser, but that in effect left the scientist to be gradually forced back with the strength of the flames.

"GRRR!" he then leered with a menacing status. "Let's see how you like it, little princess!"

He then brought his attention straight back to Nina, whose looks of determination were still shown within her forceful grasp around her. And it wasn't long until she started to pulse the bear traps much harder than before.

His expression showed just as much pain when he eventually managed to come around to her, using one of his hands to pick her up by the neck, causing her bear traps to retract back into their place. But… that was until he ended up hearing some light footsteps from nearby.

"Uh-oh...!"

The creature then made his look straight towards the other side of the room, where Cortex was seen making a further run right towards him with his laser gun at hand, and with the flamethrower being left in a corner for the time being.

And within an instant, he used the bright neon green shots from his laser to provide multiple attacks straight towards his opponent, leaving him to end up ducking and diving under various different ranges of fire, thus dropping Nina in the progress.

She then made her run straight towards another side of the room, with her hands clutching by her side. That in turn left Cortex to make his run back towards the flamethrower, with the Kaiser suddenly starting to chase him for his reactions.

"That's it!" Cortex then exclaimed with determination. "Let's see if we can finish the job!"

He picked up the flamethrower and pulled the trigger. However… all that came off was a puff of steam. He gave out a light blink at its actions, before looking straight down at the weapon's nose, shaking it as he did so.

"Goodness sake, how do you work this thing?"

He tried to kick the fuel tank within the pushcart, and tried pointing the nose straight towards the Kaiser again. But… it still didn't seem to want to fire. That left his expression to show a lot of confusion over time.

He knew that it would be over once the Kaiser made his sweep straight towards him, but… he still tried several other times. That in turn left the flamethrower to finally start firing and in turn singeing his opponent's fur and detaching a lot of nearby pipes on top of him… but with the force being almost too powerful for his feet to stand.

"AAARGH!" he then screamed loudly.

Nina managed to notice the strain. "Uncle Neo!"

The force of the fire then became that strong his body was being lifted above the ground, and that left him to end up flying straight towards the tank of the machine. Its position against the wall left it to end up grating along the side, before suddenly turning towards its right.

And eventually, it ended up making its way that far to the right it was at a right angle to the wall, leaving the trolley to shoot backwards much faster. All that Cortex could do was look behind him with strain.

And that left him to shunt his way straight through the walls at the other side of the room, causing a deep hole within it. The forces of the fire were still left to scatter right across the room, where Nina was lucky to evade by taking cover among one of the nearby walls.

"I'm coming for you!"

She was seen coughing in her position, trying to escape from the vast amount of smoke, before she steadily made her way towards the hole herself. Carefully, she climbed her way out, and started bringing herself on pursuit for her uncle.

There, the force of the flamethrower was left to see him flying straight into the skies. He was then set at that high an altitude that bailing out from his position will never at all be considered as an option.

Meanwhile, within the rubble as caused by the flamethrower fire, the Kaiser was seen struggling his way out from the mess. He brought his claw-like hand out, and climbed his way out with his eyes showing strain all around him.

"You may have fried me yet, but you'll know that one of these days we will be able to meet again. Just like the previous few occasions we've seen of you..."

And there, the figure then started to vanish his way straight back into the darkness, its charcoal-shaded attires upon its fur starting to provide a deep blemish all around him with a lot of deep feelings of pain scattered all around him.

His footsteps left behind several traces of soot upon the soles of his shoes, which in turn were left to add to the stains as shown within the room itself. They in turn eventually caused similar black stains right across the metallic floors.

Finally, the Kaiser made his way out the door, making his way back the way he came to begin with, with his eyes continuing to show the very same feelings of pain he had prior to his departure.

That in turn left the part of the stronghold to remain still as a whole, with the red mist scattered around it providing the only sense of presence all around the area, still providing its feelings of unease given the cold temperatures that surrounded it.

No one knows when the room would be approached again. But from what most of the group will know it may be a long time before the stronghold will be accessed once more.

* * *

Back outside, the rain was brought down to nothing but a light drizzle upon the ground, which in effect caused broad and firm mud puddles showing themselves upon the grounds. The temperature around the island was still as cold as ever. 

Near a slope that leads down from the west of the stronghold, both Crash and Crunch were seen making their walk back down towards the lower areas of the island itself, with their hands united peacefully.

Crunch's eyes were brought down towards the camera, knowing that he managed to escape the stronghold at a safe pace. Crash showed an equal expression filled with passion around him, but… only to see it drop when a gray trail of what looked like smoke was seen hovering across the sky.

"Get me off this thing!" exclaimed a voice in the distance.

Crunch came to a sudden stop. "Was that Cortex?"

Crunch looked straight up. And there indeed, there was a black dot flying straight along the sky. Crash focused his viewpoint there too, seeing into the figure a bit closer as time managed to advance on.

And there, he then showed himself right across the brighter portions of the skies – the features then instantly identified him to be Cortex, still struggling upon the force of the flamethrower's propellant-type fire.

"YEAAARGH!" he exclaimed with further panic.

"That's definitely him all right", said Crash. "Whatever happened over there for him?"

"There's no time to waste!" a nearby voice shouted.

From nearby, Nina managed to run behind them, and in turn she managed to catch up with the two bandicoots. Even when she was with them she didn't stop running, with her looks showing an equal amount of determination all around.

"Let's see if we can catch him before he gets fed to the sharks!"

Crash and Crunch both looked at each other, shrugging at their own expressions before they started making their way straight towards Nina's direction. And for them, they knew that the chase was on.

Meanwhile, she already brought herself directly below him, with her frisk pace showing that she was determined to reach him no matter what was the case. Her focus to his point within the sky became stronger as she got closer.

He ended up smiling as she ended up advancing much closer towards his direction, knowing that he might as well end up being saved after all. But… it wasn't long until his attention was brought straight back to the flamethrower nuzzle.

His face continued to show fear and worry. "How do you turn off this thing?"

"Uncle Neo!"

He brought his attention straight back towards Nina while still taking hold upon the flamethrower tank. While that happened, both Crash and Crunch were seen making their run from behind, trying their best to catch up with him.

And it wasn't long until she managed to take a closer look at the flamethrower as it came slightly closer towards the ground. But even from that angle, the structures were difficult to analyze from her position.

"Do you know how you turned it on?" she asked him.

Cortex looked around the flamethrower nuzzle for any forms of help, yet much of it was shown to be a basic shape in practice – a cream colored gun shooting fire out from a hole, with black and yellow squares along the edge.

With all his might, he then turned it around and saw a small button panel as shown straight onto it. There, he looked closer, and ended up seeing into a crucial problem – a broken handle situated near a few small red buttons.

"Oh great..." he frowned. "Did I break the handle on this thing?"

Nina's face still showed determination. "At least find some way to block the nose!"

He then brought his attention straight towards the nose, which continued to fire out flame upon flame in order to keep him advancing. That left him to show a face filled with hesitance as he ended up bringing the fire closer to his direction.

There, he saw an empty spot residing upon the flamethrower tank – a dent as shown upon the side. He looked back towards the nose, and saw that to be at a firm enough size to be able to fit through the hole. And there, he smiled shakily.

"I hope this works...!" He said with a light amount of lacking confidence.

Cortex then took a hold upon the nose, and ended up placing it within the dent. That in turn caused the fire to eventually come to a stop… but in turn causing a serious shuffle to occur within the tank itself.

_It then started to fall._

"Oh no..." he gasped at the action. "Aaargh!"

There, he started to pummel his way towards the ground, several feet within the air. That left Crash, Crunch and Nina to show panic as they in turn managed to make their way straight towards his own direction.

Eventually, he made his way towards the main hut for the rebellion. Once there, he ended up landing upon the cloth rooftop, leaving him to bounce before the weight soon gave way, which made him fall into the building.

That left a lot of wooden rubble to end up crashing straight down inside, with Cortex being showered within them before landing on top of an office desk. The dust left behind soon cleared, showing him covered in wooden planks with only his hands sticking out.

"Ouch... my head!" he said with further pain.

"It's about time you got back, doc."

The voice caused Cortex to end up lifting his head from above the rubble, leaving him to end up seeing towards Kyle's direction. The pelican was seen with his arms folded, surprised to see one of the rebellion members crashing down just like that.

Then, some doors were seen rustling in another direction, leaving him to bring his attention towards that side of the room. There, he saw Crash, Crunch and Nina emerge on the scene together.

"Ah, Crash, glad to see you can make it too", he said to the bandicoot with a smile.

"Crash!" Coco shouted from the other side of the room.

The sight of Crash left Coco to end up standing up from her position, and once there she ended up jumping onto his chest and providing a deep hug in his direction, relieved to know that he survived the stronghold.

"Oh, I'm glad to see you're alright, big brother!" she said with a broad grin on her face.

"Hey, cool it! I've only been gone for a couple of hours!"

The gesture left Coco to end up blushing slightly as she ended up releasing her grip from Crash's body. There, he ended up dusting himself off before sitting down on a nearby chair, interested in seeing the aftermath of the stronghold approach.

"So, while we're here, did you manage to get anything from the fortress?" Kyle asked the others.

"Yeah, Crunch managed to take some recon photos of the whole operation" replied Crash with a nod. "Problem is, they may take ages to print out."

Crunch shook his head. "Not under Kyle's technology we don't!"

In an instant, Crunch took out his spy camera and placed it within a nearby black pedestal machine. On a nearby monitor, the recon photos taken were all displayed one by one, and were printed out from a nearby press. The gesture caused Crash to end up with a confused look around him.

"Can someone please tell me how these machine-thingies got better when I was jailed?"

Kyle, however, ignored him altogether. "Anyway, it looks as if we've got some good shots provided. I'll see if I can draw up a plan from here."

The pelican gave off a light smile before he ended up bringing his attention back towards the photos shown upon the screen. He brought himself straight towards the panel, and used his wing-like hands to print them off individually.

That left the others to disperse around the room, knowing that the general printing process is bound to take a fair amount of time in general. For they knew that a plan was about to come in mind.

* * *

Several hours was the duration that it took for Kyle to sit down at a desk and start providing slides for an incoming slideshow. Some careful hand-crafted work and attention to the small slides have worked in making them as precise as possible. 

By that time, the skies were already turning into a deep shade of red, easily matching that of the vicious night skies. At that time, some of Cortex's minions even ended up on the edge of falling asleep on top of one another.

But it wasn't long until Kyle managed to snap his fingers, bringing the attention of the group to his direction. A projector was brought against a white board, and one by one the slides were placed in, giving him time to speak in between sessions.

"Thanks to the analysis of our team we are sure to move on in with the next phase in line", the pelican said with a confident expression. "From what I heard from Nina, the creature has migrated to the foot of Meteor Mountain, leaving a new heavy resistance spot to set up there."

He opened up several slides in a row, revealing the leader of the Squadron Gemini in a darkened silhouette form, as well as Meteor Mountain as portrayed in many different angles all at once, although looking just as menacing at every single one of which.

"Kazaa, the Black Seagull and the rest of our spies have managed to set up places all around the volcano, and for that we are sure to push the enemy back even further."

He then managed to switch over to various slides, which managed to hold what was taken from Crunch's spy camera. There, the visions of the interior – as well as the machine in the middle – caused Cortex's face to turn white with horror.

"The recon photos have told me that the leader, dubbed 'Kaiser Gemini', has ended up working with a shorter shadowed figure to work on twisting the entire world to an opposite state. They have tried it here on this island with what seemed like an advanced version of Cortex's 'Psychotron' gadget, and has worked successfully."

There, he ended up starting to flinch further, panicking over his machine. Not once did he actually give his blueprints away to anyone, he thought to himself, so how could it be possible for them to approach the machine and generate the ultimate twisted formation?

Those questions remained within his head as Kyle ended up reaching the end of the slide show. The projector was turned off, leaving Kyle to end up making a further walk around the scenery, bringing his feet right across the floor as he did so.

"So it looks as if it'll be a tough job to find out how to restore the island, but we have got some note worthy plans ahead of us."

"Like what?" asked Crash in the background.

Kyle gave out a light blink towards the orange bandicoot, his eyes curiously twitching from side to side over time. There, he ended up walking towards a nearby desk, and brought up a blueprint showing an airship design covered in brown coffee stains.

"I've been providing some heavy modifications lately onto a machine I ended up strolling across during my travels", he said as he pointed towards the blueprint. "It's dubbed the CODA; it's a beautiful vessel which chemical power source can in turn be used to restore life as it is. I even tested it on some plants among the shores outside."

He pointed on at the nearby window, and it was there that they saw into some of the plants that were only just inches from the sandy shores. They in themselves seemed to be the only breed of plants that were seen glowing a beautiful green color, filled with grace around their posture.

"Looks beautiful", whispered Coco with a loving smile.

Nina, however, didn't seem to care less. "Oh brother...!"

Nina ended up rolling her eyes while folding her arms as she did so. And it wasn't long until everyone managed to make their way away from the window, gradually showing interest on the power behind the CODA.

"So it looks as if that will eventually be used to restore the island's good around it", Kyle said with a smile. "I'll stay behind and see if I can provide some further alterations to help make it better. For now, I hope to see you all pull off a good fight at Meteor Mountain."

Kyle ended up saluting the others with a broad state all around him, with the others coming around to saluting straight back at him. For them it seemed that a strong tomorrow was about to come around them.

One by one, everyone managed to smile straight back towards him, proud of seeing into the incoming mission around them. Then, they all started to make their way out the door, looking closely towards the others as they did so.

"You can count on us, Kyle!" Crunch said with a confident smile.

"I have one last question for you sir", blinked Nina. "Are you staying here, just because you can't fight?"

At the sound of Nina's response, he started blushing at the response. That left him to end up looking straight down at his own hands, before outstretching them with a building amount of confidence.

"Hm, well... fighting isn't exactly expected of a pelican, but I sure as heck can fly", he lightly chuckled to himself.

All that Nina could do was end up rolling her eyes straight on at him, before she ended up making her way back outside with a light eye twitch showing all around her. It wasn't long until most of the others gradually left one by one with her.

"Whichever happens out of all this", he started again, "I hope to see you work well in the next phase of the operation. Be sure to call me back if you have any further news!"

"We're on it Kyle!" Coco responded back confidently.

She gave out a light grin towards his direction, before she in turn managed to make her way out the door. That itself was closed lightly, leaving the room to be brought back into silence for one more time.

No sooner than that happened, Tiny, Pinstripe, Ripper Roo and the Komodo Brothers left the building together with their own weapons in tow, ready to tackle an assigned mission themselves. Polar and Pura also made their way with them, being towed on leashes.

That left Kyle alone within the building, with all the high-tech equipment and documents all to himself. He gave off a light and cautious expression before approaching the nearest radar within his grasp.

He then looked around the empty spaces of the room. There, within his own mind he started thinking a lot about the company that he had within the rebellion. Will they actually survive the trials around them? And will he manage to escape from the painful world as a peaceful figure in the end?

He then smiled, showing that optimism is a key component behind the team. For as far as he know, the rebellion will be facing a glorious future right ahead.

end of part 4-


	5. The Hot and the Cold

AUTHOR'S NOTES-

Bah. Been meaning to submit this yesterday, however much of that was spent in the aftermath of finally getting one of my music files hosted onto OCRemix. Oh yes.

Anyway, looking back at the last part in line… EcoBlood, I want to thank you for the comment once more. Interesting that you noted the opposite link between both Coco and Nina, mind; I often took into consideration that even though they're both sweet and innocent girls at the end of the day, their personalities can be shown to be rather opposite for all that matters, with Coco being similar to your local flower girl and Nina… being kinda like Wednesday Addams. XD I'll be sure to check into your Jak fic over time, although chances are I may not drop much commentary until Easter break.

But back to the subject at hand - work on part 5 on this Crash fic hasn't been put on hold at all. This part takes our team to the terrors lying around Meteor Mountain, where our team have managed to reunite with the Black Seagull to aim for the next part of the mission - to try and re-trace Kaiser Gemini via a stronghold locked deep within the mountain's more secure structures.

One of my main goals in going through this part was to try and emphasize on the fact that the relationship between Coco and Dingodile is minimal at best. Throughout the Crash games they have barely seen each other AT ALL, give or take CTR, CNK or Crash Bash. And people emphasizing on a pairing between them without a full explanation seemed to feel uneasy on me.

I try not to reference to my past fiction too much, although in this particular part there is shown to be a purposeful link towards the work I pulled off in _Schoolhouse Rock: Symphony of the Future_, also hosted around my archive. There is no way that I wanted to end that on a cliff hanger. ;

Anyway, be sure to take in the part as it is, and let's see how far it'll go.

Peace out,

Rexy-

* * *

A cold and monstrous atmosphere was shown all the way around the island as it reached the evening period of the day. The waves among the ocean were seen crashing further among the waters with their aggressive tone. 

On the ground level of the island, various plants were seen blowing further and further within the wind, continuing to reflect on the island's painful tone that has been surrounding it. The gust itself was shown to reflect with a painful cold temperature that could cause lack of comfort to anyone's flesh.

The mountain tops were no different; as the stronghold was seen crumbling into pieces, with most of the Gemini soldiers seen jumping ship while carrying crucial parts of their Psychotron with them, the atmosphere was felt to be just as unwelcoming through the air and cliffs.

But there was one particular member of the squadron that didn't at all assist in shifting any of the parts over to its new destination. A broad figure that has managed to take interest in the actions going around the rest of the island.

Kaiser Gemini shifted his eyes from one side to the other, while in turn concentrating upon the ground level. And right there, he ended up seeing into a few black blurs that walked upon the ground. He gave out a sigh at the sight of them.

"So you wish to come back for more, do you?"

He then growled as he clutched his fists and pounded them to the ground. Then, he brought his hands within his own pockets and pulled out a small black object – one that was shaped like a cylinder.

He fixed it upon his right eye, and that left him to see into the island surroundings from a much closer angle – a miniature telescope in operation. He then focused in on a particular path around the island, one that cut through the middle of the whole scene.

There he managed to see Crash and the others make their gradual approach towards Meteor Mountain. All that the Kaiser could do was give off a strong aggressive growl at their very motions.

"Shame that with the way this world will eventually turn, you won't be able to live long enough to see what we have wanted for so long."

Kaiser then looked straight towards the Psychotron's parts being carried straight down towards the hills, its target destination shown to be unknown at that moment in time. He then showed a light growl within his own teeth, viciousness continuing to be refined upon his face.

He then stood up and walked to the other side of the hilltops, where he saw the rest of the island in motion. That in turn was shown to be just as unwelcoming as the other side; just as painful when it came to the overall colors and textures.

Some areas didn't quite get so lucky though – some of the island features ended up turning for the worse. Dense sand, leave-less trees as a whole, barely any soil to walk upon, and a lot of cliffs showing nothing but barren-like structures around them.

"A prize we needed so much since our last encounter..."

The Kaiser then smirked, before looking his way down towards that part of the island's direction, almost as if it was pleased with that half's more twisted motion in general. He then brought his attention towards a nearby mountainous structure.

* * *

Meteor Mountain was standing in all of its majesty. And that in turn left him to maintain his vicious expression as he then made his way straight towards the volcano-like structure in its entirety. 

And as far as he knows, his reign around the island will still last for a long time…

Time soon passed, and it was there that a nearby lift was seen around one side of Meteor Mountain in full operation. It was seen carrying a lot of crates around the top, before transferring them back down.

Riding one of the crates itself were Crash and the others, all seen settling within the cramp spaces inside it. By then the view of the whole island were being brought right around their eyes, thus emphasizing on a clear view all around it.

The crate then made its way straight towards the top, leaving the group to get ready for their departure as it made its way towards the drop-off point. They looked around the scenes, absorbing its purple-red color schemes all around it.

"So I take this is Meteor Mountain?" Crash asked the others.

Nina looked upon some of the taller structures in silence before speaking herself. "I can tell given all this damn heat coming out from the ground..."

They looked all around the scene, and saw a lot of nearby figures making their way across the ground, most of which being shown to be various other anthro creatures in loose clothing brought all the way around them.

The ground itself was shown to have steam coming out everywhere, and a nearby volcano was seen settling along to the right, leaving a small stream of lava to end up trickling its way across the scene itself. Before they could absorb the surroundings further, the mechanism came to a halt.

"Well, looks like the elevator has stopped", blinked Coco. "It's time to absorb our current surroundings."

The door opened up, and that left everyone to leave the lift. Once they all came out one by one – with Cortex coming out last due to the carrying of the flamethrower, the fuel now established in a smaller tank - the door was automatically closed behind them and the crate then started to make its way along the zip line, back down to the ground level of the island.

This left them to explore the further surroundings all around the scene – the colors of purple, blue and red have managed to ease together easily within the colors of the sky, the ground and the individual decorations around the mountainous structure.

As they crossed the bridge that ran right above the stream of lava, they looked down towards the surface together and saw the lava running in a smooth pace, with the bright colors easily reflecting upon their own faces.

Another corner was passed, and it was there that they saw a lot of vultures flying their way around the highest cliff tops. The sound of their cawing was heard all around them, granting a fair amount of space all around the scene.

The atmosphere around the scene was an easy pleasure for Cortex to be able to absorb as he managed to take in the devious sights around him. For him, the evil-esque natures of the colors and structures were shown to be an instant paradise.

"I don't know about you, but this place looks... fiendishly beautiful!" he then snickered to himself.

Nina ended up stopping in her tracks. "What do you mean?"

Several thoughts managed to rush around Nina's head as she managed to look closer to the surrounding. Given her thoughts relating to dark monochrome colors, the surreal surroundings didn't seem to do much to her face other than provide an eye twitch.

Within the group, Crunch made his way towards a stalagmite that was curved at its peak, standing within the center of the clearing like a statue. He knocked upon it and gave off a curious smile at its structure.

"It certainly looks surreal, I can tell you now", he spoke with a broad grin. "But how do you think we could be able to re-trace Kaiser Gemini in a place like this?"

Nina looked up and pointed at something in her sight. "Look!"

Nina then brought the group's attention towards a structure that lied right at the edge of the clearing. And it was shown to be a total contrast to the deep purples and reds that scattered the building – a white wall that was shown to stand 60 feet tall.

They then managed to look above it, and right there stood a fortress on top of a lonely rock. A thunderstorm was seen surrounding it, thus providing a serious feeling of unease all around the scene given the weather conditions.

"Yeah, well that definitely manages to answer a lot", Crash whispered to himself. "Let's see if we can get inside this thing!"

Crash gave off a confident smile as he started to make his way towards the wall with his hands linked together. His walk then turned into a run, and his posture soon changed into a charge – but all he could do was just rebound from the wall upon contact.

"Ouch, why do I even bother?" he growled while rubbing his limbs from the action.

Nina then placed her knuckles directly under her chin. "Hmm…"

Nina brought her attention to the wall herself, and it wasn't long until she managed to make her walk straight towards it herself. She used her hands to knock on it – a solid structure all around. Then she used a hand to stroke the wall surface – too smooth to climb.

"Looks as if this reinforced marble is a bit too tough to break by force", she said with a frown. "We need another way around this structure."

She sighed before she made her way back, using an arm link to bring Crash – with toucans buzzing around his head - back towards the others. Once there, they looked on at one another, knowing that a way around the wall needed to be explained.

"Uncle Neo, do you think the Black Seagull would be around here somewhere?"

"I can't see her, but..." Cortex came to a sudden pause. "It's worth a try given what Kyle told us."

"Say Crunch", Crash then blurted out in a dizzy tone. "Do you see any spies here?"

Crunch brought his viewpoint all around the scene, with his eyes twitching every few seconds. He then brought his attention towards a nearby corner, where several shapes were seen moving among the distance.

"I see a small team of which turning round to that corner over there", the brown bandicoot exclaimed as he pointed at the figures ahead. "Do you suppose that could be our target?"

"We'll see if we can give it a try", replied Crash, gradually gaining his strength.

And so they all started to make their walk straight towards the scene, hoping to follow the shapes towards the corner. Over time the shapes eventually became more defined as human-like figures, although still obscured in darkness.

They then turned another corner, and it wasn't long until Crash turned the same corner. But… all they were met with was a solid wall. It was within that motion that Crash showed a face filled with confusion.

"Wait a minute, we've faced a dead end?"

"Apparently not!" giggled Coco.

With a smile, Coco walked her way towards the walls and placed her hand within a sole slot. That caused the wall to lightly shake, giving off a lot of debris and allowing various dust particles to fall towards the ground.

As that happened, the wall was seen shoving its way towards the left, allowing a gap to show within the wall. That in effect showed a corridor leading deep inside the mountain side, leaving Crash to show a smile upon his own muzzle.

"Awesome thinking, sis!"

Coco looked back at the others with a confident glance back, her teeth shown to be as clean as possible within her smile. Soon after that was over, she made her walk within the mountainside, lightly skipping as she did so.

That in turn left them to come down a corridor filled with fire-based torches all around them, with the light and warmth to instantly reflect straight towards the group. This progress continued until when they managed to reach a nearby clearing within the corridors, where a sole cave was seen right at the other side.

The opening of the cave was blocked by a wooden door that was almost Nina's size. That left them with no way through at all, although the shadow of the seagull could easily be seen from its position.

"There she is!" Cortex said with confidence.

"So you must be more of the whole rebellion pack huh?" she replied with her usual sarcastic tone. "Hmm..."

The shadow was seen gesturing with a confident posture all around her. While that happened, Cortex came up close towards the door, struggling to be able to look above the door towards her structures.

"Madam, we managed to chase Kaiser Gemini out from the hillside stronghold", the scientist replied with confidence.

"Nice feat, huh? Glad to see you managed to take it from one side to the other. Perhaps I should send you a medal, but nah..." she said with her voice slightly turning darker. "I'm afraid the war has only just begun."

"But I tried my best to defeat him, did I?"

"There is no 'try' in this battle, soldier. You either kill, or be killed. It's as simple as that."

The bitterness in her tone ended up reflecting a deeper sense of sorrow around Cortex's expression, leaving him to sigh with failure as he ended up retreating his way towards the others. Within the group, all that Crash could do was growl before stepping forwards.

"Sheesh! You can scare this 'soldier' all you want, but all he wanted to do was just put a name forward for himself!"

"Wait a minute... that voice?" the Seagull stopped in her tracks. "Do I know you?"

"I don't even understand why you kept yourself growing in this rebellion for one second, lady!" Crash shouted with a scream in his voice. "With the way you're putting it you might have ended up treating us harsher than the Kaiser! Remind me that once this war is over, you're being fought with next. Let's take care of business on our own."

Crash then growled before he started to make his walk out of the caves. But… while that happened, the wooden door was opened up, and the Seagull then made her way out in full form. She then removed the headscarf and any other forms of garments around her head, thus showing her full head figure.

She had short brown hair, as well as deep brown eyes and a well formed face that has easily been matched for that of a human. She clicked her fingers with delight upon seeing Crash, whom then turned round to face her.

"Crash Bandicoot! It's you!"

He gasped with shock at her. "What the-!"

Cortex showed an equally surprised look. "Beverley Sanchez?"

"I can't believe it's been so long since I saw you travel 25 years back in time to help save our planet!"

And as if she knew Crash within the past, she managed to make her way towards Crash and bring her hands around his chest as if in a bear hug. The force left him to growl as he tried to make his way out from her hands.

"Wait a minute, he can only just speak!" Cortex exclaimed with a confused tone. "How is that possible?"

"Yeah, I noticed that too!" said Coco nervously. "What's going on?"

"I don't know", Crash sighed. "I haven't been back in time before, or at least not to that extent. Are you telling me something I may eventually need to know?"

Crash looked back at Bev, and then at the others. Since when did he end up traveling back in time to meet up with her, he thought to himself. What kind of event would have brought them together in the first place? He then sighed before bringing his head down.

"This is getting confusing", Crunch said with a blink. "I mean, what kind of event would bring a woman like her into a fight like that?"

"I for one have no idea", shrugged Nina. "But given what Uncle Neo might have known about her…"

She glanced her way straight towards Cortex's direction, whom even though he was still in the aftershock of seeing her ended up blushing on the spot. He then thought upon the aspect of him and her, as lovers… which left him to shake his head with frustration.

"No, it's not what you think!" he then panicked. "She was a childhood friend of mine!"

"Hmm…" Bev brought her eyes up and down Cortex's body, analyzing his posture. "I don't know about you, but you look a lot different since I last saw you."

"That's what you get when the trials of Evil seem to take their toll."

"Yeah, he seemed to end up with several urges to dominate the world since he first ended up here, or at least that's what he told me. Now it seemed as if he wanted to leave his past behind or something – he barely seemed to mention much about you, even though he managed to write some kind of personal journal relating to a past experience several months ago."

Cortex then gave out a light sigh as he brought his head back towards the ground, showing a light twitch of the eye as he did so. He then was able to look up in Bev's direction, whom could only show an optimistic smile in return.

"Mind, I've been looking for you for a long time, hoping to be able to make contact based upon our childhood memories again. I just found it hard enough that this world is being turned for the worse too, which is just plain terrible."

"Do you need a hand?" Cortex asked her.

She gave out a light smirk before she turned her way straight towards the group around her. And maintaining her optimistic looks, she just brought her eyes back towards Cortex's direction and granted a light blink.

"More like, do _you_ need a hand?"

All that Cortex could do was blink with shock. Surely he knew that Bev was starting to show her age through her facial expression alone, but that didn't mean that she still had a youthful spirit inside her. While that happened, she made her rush towards the tunnel exit.

"Now I know it may take a while to adjust to the likelihood of reunion", she then started, "but you know we will be able to continue fighting on ahead of us. Let's go."

Cortex smiled back at her. "It's good to have you back, Bev."

Just as when Cortex was about to lightly place his arms around her shoulders she started making a graceful run straight down the corridors, her eyes focusing upon the scenario ahead of her.

That in turn left Crash and the others to come out with her, only to eventually meet up with the long marble wall that they left behind again. She realized by their expressions that traversing beyond the wall would be too hard to muster.

And so they all came together and started to make their way around the walls in the direction they came in through. A long walk was seen to be ahead of them, knowing that they would be in for a rough traverse all around.

Given the wall's structure granted all around the sides and ledges around the mountain, they knew that they would be in for a very exhausting trail all around. But even with that, they refused to give up hope.

For if they do, they knew what was going to happen.

* * *

The marble wall continued its way into the deeper wasteland regions around another side of the mountain. There, the marble wall continued to stand strong with its majestic portions showing all around it. 

That was shown to be a tough problem granted for Crash and the others, whom managed to see the wall continue its way without a means of an end. The height of it alone didn't seem to make much difference either – even if they placed themselves in a tower formation they would be unable to climb their way over.

Within the group, Crunch continued to show further strain and panic around his eyes, knowing that the trail will be continued much further on than once thought. That left him to bring his attention towards the others, with his eyes gradually turning a deeper shade of gray.

"Aw man, this marble wall seems to last for ever. Is there any way that we can break into this thing?"

Most of the group shrugged upon Crunch's response. They knew for a fact that they would be in for a deeper sense of strain as time happened. But… something happened that almost made Crash change his mind about the whole ordeal.

Within the background, he saw four blurred figures ahead of them, each of which being the same shapes of those that they saw prior to meeting up with the Seagull. At the sight of them, Crash's expression started to fill with hope.

"Hey, maybe they can give us a hand!"

Without second thought, Crash started making his run straight towards the four figures within the distance, each of them showing their own individual appearances within the light. One of them was a blue human figure with time-related gadgets covering his armor and body. Another was a dingo/crocodile hybrid wearing a set of cream flared pants.

The third figure was a short ginger-haired scientist donning a white lab coat, with a missile lodged into his head. And the fourth figure was another scientist, but he wore a green coat and had two bolts placed within his head. In an instant, Crash approached the blue skinned figure and raised his hand before speaking.

"Hey, do you have any idea how to break through this damn wall?" he asked him.

"What makes you think we'll care?" he scowled back with a strong British accent.

The figure then brought his pitchfork into full swing. There, he ended up showing his angered attitude towards Crash, knowing for the fact that they have easily met before. His eyes widened at the set of them.

"All we wanted out of this mess was to try and force our way through towards the Kaiser's riches, ever since we failed to take in those from the Evil Twins", he sighed back.

"Is money all you care about?" Crash growled on. "We have a world at crisis here, and we need your help!"

"Money money money, is that all they ever care about?" Bev said with a shake of the head.

"You can't blame the ambition if it's for Nefarious Tropy, Dingodile, N. Gin and Nitrus Brio", shrugged Cortex.

Back in the foreground, Crash nodded his head as he tried his best to confront the figures; however they continued to show their aggressive stances. It was even there that they slowly started to surround the others, showing their menacing postures in an instant.

"If I had my flamethrowa'", Dingodile started speaking with a strong Australian accent, "I'll aim straight at the lot o' ya!"

"What makes you think that, you sick freak?" Coco snarled back at him.

At her response, all that Dingodile could do was twitch his tail rapidly from side to side, and use that in a slapping gesture right upon the ground. He then used it to harshly pound her towards the ground.

"AAARGH!"

Her face was then buried within the brimstone grounds, which in turn left various marks around her own fur. And over time, she managed to make her way straight back up on both feet, showing a face filled with disgust around her.

While that happened, Bev managed to step near her. For spies within the rebellion, they didn't seem to be too focused upon the crucial main objectives, she thought. Bearing those thoughts in mind she then opened her mouth to speak.

"Look, we are asking for some cooperation here", she said while looking back at the dingo-crocodile hybrid and the short missiled scientist. "We just want to reach the Kaiser's lair and put a stop to this madness."

"Only on the condition if you give Dingodile's flamethrower back!" shouted N. Gin while revealing his half-human half-machine voice texture. "Why did you confiscate it from him?"

"Just like he's acting now - not fully focusing on the objective behind this rebellion. The rules are the rules, and that's what the Black Seagull is portraying to you."

"Well I... n-n-never!" growled Brio with a high pitched voice. "Let's see if we can fight for that weapon back!"

N. Gin smirked back towards his partner. "Roger that!"

Bev tried her best to speak back with the others, but… before she could even do so, N. Gin, Tropy, Dingodile and Brio all brought themselves forward with their own artillery at hand, ready to fight on against the six of them.

That in turn left expressions of fear to show around everyone over time; within them, Coco and Nina showed more fear than the others, with more concern over the strength of their opponents than the quantity of them.

"It looks as if we have no choice but to fight back!" Coco gasped with a more upsetting expression. "But how?"

"I'll see if I can square off against Tropy", smirked Crash. "Cortex and Nina, you go on for N. Gin. Coco and Bev, you can go on for Dingodile. Crunch, be sure to work on against Brio. Let's see if we can get on with this!"

And thus, all six of them cheered before they all started to make their way around the clearing, ready to show their rage towards their opponents. Within the shuffle, Crash made his way a few inches near Tropy, whom held his pitchfork with pride.

The orange bandicoot showed a light eye twitch around him. "Dare throw that pitchfork at me, or..."

All of a sudden, he aimed his pitchfork towards the air, and right there a lot of strobe lights shone down on it, thus creating an energetic stanza showing all the way around it. That left Crash to end up shivering right at the sight of it.

"AIEE!"

There, Tropy aimed the pitchfork towards him, shooting a lot of bright purple strobe lights in his direction. That left him to start making his run from the scene, ducking and diving under some of which.

While that happened, Crunch was seen making a further run straight towards Brio, whom was seen moving with a fair amount of grace upon his sleek body. Within every few seconds, the brown bandicoot used his metallic hand to punch to the ground, in a bold attempt to shock his opponent.

"Get over here you little pipsqueak!"

All that Brio could do in return was smirk towards him. "You won't be seeing t-t-that for long!"

While that happened, Brio went into his pockets and pulled out a red beaker within his pockets. He removed the cork from it, and all of a sudden he started to drink the contents as if he was approaching red wine on a Friday night.

And as he ran, he ended up surrounded in a puff of green smoke. Just as when Crunch was about to grab him… he ended up plowing his way through air. The smoke then cleared up, and he then realized that Brio was gone.

"Where did he go?" Crunch asked himself with confusion.

"BEHIND YOU!"

The voice caused him to look right behind him, where emerging from a rock was a green monstrous hand. Muscles were also seen surrounding him, as well as an insane amount of fur scattering his body.

There, he managed to witness Brio's monster form, leaving him to start panicking as he came closer. He was shown to be three times Crunch's size, leaving him in turn to start panicking at the monstrosity.

"Uh-oh...!"

And it was at that point where Brio started chasing Crunch after what happened. That left him in serious panic as he tried to make his way back the way he came. It seemed as if he had to do some serious thinking to try and bring his opponent down.

Meanwhile with Cortex and Nina, they were seen approaching N. Gin with optimistic expressions all around them, with the remains of the flamethrower still firmly placed within the scientist's grasp; a corkscrew mechanism being taped onto it to control the flow of the fire.

"As much as I hate to do this to you", smirked Cortex, "you're fired!"

And there, the mechanism was triggered, causing the fire to shoot out from the nose and suddenly strike its way towards N. Gin, thus setting fire upon his lab coat. He then started to panic from the pain surrounding him.

"YEAAAARGH!"

From the background, Nina showed a faint smile on her. "Need a hand?"

Within the flames, Nina managed to show her way from behind him and used her bear-trap-style hands to end up pinning him to the floor. That in turn left them to end up rolling under their own force, thus putting out the fire in the process.

Over with Coco and Bev, they were seen making their run straight towards the monstrosity that was Dingodile, his big teeth easily showing within his jaw. He then held his fists tightly; ready to inflict some serious damage towards the two girls.

"I know that you're after your flamethrower", Coco started speaking in a sweet tone, "but there are more important things in life than that."

"Yeah?" Dingo snorted. "Like what?"

"This world is in peril, and it needs help just like that", replied Bev in a melancholy tone. "If it doesn't get aid soon we're all going to die!"

But Dingodile didn't respond. Instead, he started making his run straight towards the girls, with his fists brought right behind his body. He then brought himself into a brisk pace around him, his bare feet taking him far ahead when it came to the overall sprint.

And there, he started using his tail to try and attack his opponents, leaving them to start making their run far away from the monster itself. While they ran, they ended up picking various rocks down from the ground and used them to hurl straight towards their opponent. However, they ended up rebounding from his body.

"I take that didn't work out!" Bev panicked from her position.

Eventually, both girls managed to split up and make their run in opposite directions. That left Dingodile to go after Bev, with his menacing hands ready to inflict further damage to her. She tried to fight back with swipes and kicks at every opportunity, only to see his broad status end up fighting easily against her force.

Then, he ended up cornering her. He brought his body over hers so that it totally obscured it. His menacing face was seen growling straight towards hers, who was seen clutching a fist thus being ready to punch him… but that was until a nearby shadow came nearby.

"Coming through!"

It zoomed past Bev's viewpoint, before it eventually started to circle Dingo's. There, he looked up… and saw no one there. He looked in the other directions, and didn't see much in terms of other shadowed figures nearby.

"Huh?"

He then scratched the top of his head with a single finger. But… little did he know that he ended up with a surprise, with a shadow jumping near him and kicking him directly upon the back, thus forcing him straight forward.

"OOF!" he growled as he clutched his teeth in pain.

Within the force, he ended up drilling a hole in the wall with his mouth, thus getting his head stuck. That left Bev to make her way out from her position, only to see Coco smiling with pride as she clapped her hands together.

Back with Crash and Tropy, they were seen involved in a closer fight – while the pitchfork itself was continuing to fire strobe lights, the bandicoot was able to run towards him while dodging the light particles at the same time.

"Take this, you little skunk!" Tropy growled towards Crash.

"You can take those words back!"

Crash soon made his assault towards Tropy – as soon as he was several paces near him, he made his jump straight towards him with his arms outstretched. He gave out a confident smile as he came ever so closer.

Right there, Tropy brought out his pitchfork to try and block his opponent… but to no avail – Crash's hands took a tight grip around the pitchfork, leaving them to end up in a roll-based brawl over the dominance over the weapon.

Several minutes passed, and it wasn't long until Crash escaped from the brawl with the pitchfork at hand. He gave off a devious smile as he tried to aim the strobe lights towards him, leaving Tropy to run with fear.

Crash continued to fire, but… it wasn't long until some of the shots started to zoom past Tropy and onto other obstacles like the walls and cliffs. Nearby, Cortex was seen assaulting N. Gin with the flamethrower… but it wasn't long until a nearby strobe light knocked it out of its possession.

The scientist then gasped with shock. "The flamethrower!"

There, it flew its way out from Cortex's grasp, leaving it to start soaring within the air. All that Crash could do was just look on at it with a worried expression that has managed to dig deep all around him.

It then eventually managed to hover its way straight back towards Dingodile's direction, whom jumped up on both feet and caught both the weapon and its tank within his broad hands. He then gave out a light squeal of success before leering straight back towards his opponents.

"Nice try, but ah got me prize back! Ah'll be sure to use it to mah full purpose, an' before long we'll be rich bachelors again! Let's get out of here, mytes."

Tropy smirked with a nod, before looking on at Crash and the others. "We may meet again soon, or maybe not. But let's see how far you can go without your precious arsenal!"

Cortex tried his best to chase after the four opponents, but it wasn't long until Tropy brought out his pitchfork and cast a bright purple flash over them all, leaving them to vaporize within the light energy and vanish.

That left the plains to end up as quiet as they were when they approached them. The gentle winds in turn were brought around Cortex's body as he ended up crouching down and placing his hands upon the ground.

"Oh great..."

From his position, he looked down upon the ground, disappointed with the result of the fight. Most of the others ended up showing grim looks to match, Bev especially as she managed to come up close to him.

"How do you suppose we can face the Kaiser now?" Cortex asked her. "We're all in no state after what we've faced out there."

"Look - just because he's bigger than us doesn't mean he's difficult to inflict a scratch on. We'll be sure to keep going even if it takes the smallest difference to fight."

Her words left his eyes to blink. Still maintaining his melancholy expression, he slowly but surely managed to turn towards her direction, her rounded face easily showing an honest glance around her.

"You must be really confident, Bev. That's one of the reasons why I befriended you in the first place."

She responded back with a smile; Cortex tried to do the same back, but it soon twitched back to its emotionless attire. He was then able to stand up on both feet, and thus continued looking on at the surroundings.

Aside from various scratches as shown around the walls, much of the structures of the building were pretty much intact, which have in turn included the marble wall that surrounded the hidden depths of the mountain.

"So, anyone still got any ideas how to break open this marble wall?" Crash asked the others with a curious glance.

"Nope, not a clue", shrugged Crunch. "Unless we find something to help us, we might as well keep walking to the end."

Crash gave out a sigh before he steadily started to make his walk straight ahead once more, his face continuing to show more curiosity as time managed to advance on. He then saw the wall advance around a nearby corner, showing itself in a more twisted attire as it went further on.

"Question is, where is the end?"

No one dared to answer him at all. That left them to all make their way around the marble wall's twisted structures in silence, shocked by the fight that they have ended up being a part of as a result.

The skies then in effect turned to a more hazardous black-purple color, thus blocking out more forms of light around the ground than ever; only the light from a few lava run-off streams can be seen reflecting into their direction.

As they walked further the grounds became denser over time. Crash wasn't the only one that managed to feel it upon the soles of his shoes; that in turn left him and the others to continue estimating how long it would be until they would finally reach the structures on the other side of the wall.

Only time would tell on how and when they would be able to get there.

_end of part 5_


	6. The Marble's Reflection

AUTHOR'S NOTES

Ouch, I was meant to put this part up yesterday but I was really, REALLY stuck for time. O.o

But anyhow, it's time we advanced onto part 6 of my Crash fic. Those that can remember the previous episode saw that Cortex was finally confiscated of Dingodile's flamethrower, which returned in his direction although in its more minimalist form. Here, our group continue to follow among the marble walls of Meteor Mountain and try to find a way to break towards the other side, which isn't easy. Oh, and be prepared for a light amount of sudden drama too, heh.

Going back towards the response from last time… EcoBlood, don't panic if you're the only person reviewing this thing – as far as I'm concerned, every little helps. Interesting that you thought Crash reminded you of Daxter – with the way this was going I was hoping to aim for a rather stubborn form of character as a whole granted the 3 months that he was imprisoned, so that could explain the defensive approach towards Cortex… methinks. And yes, Beverley is indeed my name but I prefer Bev. However this Bev in the fic is totally fictional and is trying hard not to be a Mary Sue. Mwaha.

Anyhow, sit back and enjoy the show. Hopefully I shouldn't fall behind again…

Peace out,  
Rexy

* * *

Half an hour passed since the flamethrower equipment were taken from Cortex and returned to Dingodile after a sudden encounter. All that they could do to follow on was to continue following the marble walls for a way to reach the darker areas of Meteor Mountain. 

By that time, the first stars were starting to settle into the sky and shine with white light energy, as well as the occasional meteor that managed to fly across the sky with a radiant yellow color upon its tail.

The sights of the night sky, even with the neon light flashes that have still occurred amongst the remains of the clouds, were seen to fill what can be shown as a pleasant atmosphere all around the scene.

That thought of peace has been easily reflected onto Coco, whom instantly smiled as the stars gradually started to become brighter. That in turn left her to start slowing down, with Nina eventually taking a hold of her through an arm lock and dragging her forward.

Another corner was passed, and it wasn't long until they managed to face yet another corner. As that was passed, they ended up seeing into yet another long pathway, with the wall continuing on for yet another half a mile, although under a high bridge-like structure near the middle.

"It's almost as if we've been walking alongside this wall forever", sighed Coco with despair.

"Don't panic too much about the pace", Crunch replied back. "As long as we just keep going, that'll be just fine."

Crunch showed a face filled with optimism towards Coco, who gradually started to feel weakened within the amount of walking she had to end up enduring. That left Nina to end up tugging her harder, leaving her to be forced to briskly walk by her side.

Within the group, Cortex continued to walk forward with a faint expression of confidence, looking on at the night skies, at the brimstone walls and occasionally at the marble barrier. But… there was something within that barrier that left his eyes to widen over time.

"Those walls..."

He then ended up thinking in silence as he passed the marble structures. Eventually, the bright colorful statuses eventually turned deep shades of green, cyan and black, with feather-like shapes also showing within the structures.

They eventually started to form some further refined shapes over time, taking hold of more human-like forms all around them. That itself ended up with Nina showing curiosity, thus leaving her to let go of Coco – whom was then taken a grasp of by Crunch – and approach him.

"Is there something wrong Uncle?" Nina asked him.

"Buh?"

Cortex gave out a blink of shock. That in turn left him to look on at Nina, whose face showed that she was gradually becoming interested in looking into what he was thinking. And thus, all he could do was shake his head with hesitance.

"No, no, course not!"

Her eyes twitched. "Are you sure you're not hiding something from us?"

She gave out a light eye twitch towards her uncle's direction, whom in turn could only just panic further. That in turn left him to look back towards the marble barrier, where in fact, the similar haunting structures were there.

That in turn left Nina to take a hold of him by the hand – harshly – and bring his eyes in a lock onto hers. She growled back at him, her buckteeth shining within the starlight and her eyes showing further menacing statuses around them.

"Nina, leave your Uncle alone", growled Bev from the sidelines. "He might just be facing an illusion somehow. These marble patterns can be pretty confusing."

Crash brought his attention towards the marble wall himself. "Yeah, and with these strange colors I feel almost anything can happen if you stare at them for too long."

Nina looked back at the marble structures themselves, and it was there that she ended up sighing as she ended up letting go of Cortex's hand before advancing her way straight back towards the others.

But… it wasn't long until a few light rocks started to crumble from the rocky bridge, leaving a light amount of debris to in turn fall upon the ground. That left the bandicoots to take note of it and look straight on at the bridge itself.

"Wait a minute!" Crash exclaimed.

Crunch then gasped as he saw a shadow come onto the bridge. "Kaiser Gemini?"

Crunch pointed straight up as he saw a broad figure emerge its way around the scene. Its eyes were seen glowing within the darkness, thus showing that its vision was as clear as it was upon first vision of it.

Even with him being positioned higher above the scene, this did in effect leave expressions filled with panic upon the group, knowing that they could be eventually be spotted. But that was until Coco noticed a few rocks upon the left hand side of the path.

"Quick, duck!"

And within a sudden flash, they all managed to take cover behind the rocks. There, they managed to hide far away from the viewpoint of the Kaiser, whom continued to walk his way among the bridge.

Eventually, he brought his attention towards the pathway underneath him, his eyes slowly starting to twitch as time rolled on. He looked to the left, and saw not much trace of anything as a whole. That left him to sigh with relief.

He then faced the right, and saw the remainder of the pathway, which in turn included the rocks used to obscure Crash and the others from view. He continued to focus on at the scene for many seconds at a time, but… the stones were too still to suspect anything.

"I swear I sensed a rat in the works..."

He gave out a sneer upon his own face before he started making his way further up the bridge, deep footsteps showing upon the ground. Within the background, the group continued to focus their eyes upon their opponent.

Eventually, he managed to turn back towards the rocks… where the vision was shown to be further away than expected. He gave out a light growl, before looking straight towards the night skies with a snarl on his face.

"Might as well continue on to the next phase of the plan soon."

And thus, he continued to make his way across the bridge, thus settling on the area of the mountain on the other side of the marble wall – the area with the dark stronghold nestled right upon it.

As soon as he disappeared, the others managed to come out from the rocks, and back onto the main path. Within the group, Cortex showed fear upon his face, which was gradually turning pale over time.

"That... that face..."

The visions of the face of Kaiser Gemini were reflected straight back upon his face. And there, the haunting visions left him to eventually bring himself back onto his knees and bring his face towards the ground, with fright showing upon his eyes.

The expression soon managed to catch the attention of Nina, whom in turn managed to dash her way towards him. Once there, she brought herself into a crouch position, trying her best to level her eyes with his.

"Uncle, is there something wrong?"

He didn't respond. That left her to show further impatience through her own eyes and tensed muscles, leaving her to take a grasp around the pebbles upon the ground and snapped them within an instant.

"Uncle Neo, speak to me!"

"Nina, just give him room to breathe and then he might speak", whispered Crash in a casual tone.

Nina looked on at Crash, whom ended up showing a very relaxed expression all around him. That left her to end up taking a slight shift backwards, while easily maintaining her focus upon her uncle.

He then slowly managed to bring his head back up level with hers, although his eyes were still fixed straight onto the marble wall, the strange feather-like shapes haunting the structures that stood among it.

"I should have mentioned this to you when we first stepped onto the island in the first place."

He gave out an anxious sigh before managing to stand up on both feet again, his legs starting to shake on the spot. All that Nina could do was show a deeper face of concern as he managed to come further up.

While time happened, he started to make a more gradual walk towards the walls, his hands starting to twitch over the time that has managed to pass. Then, he gave out an honest blink and looked back towards his niece.

"Remember when we defeated the Evil Twins back at Twinsanity Island?"

Nina's response was with a shaky nod. "Yeah?"

"And you know the theory that there is an opposite to everything?"

Nina gave out a light nod at his response. Of course, the physical theory that has resided upon the time line for many years at a time, she thought quietly. Meanwhile, Cortex was seen shaking as he gradually came to terms with speaking again.

"I feel that whatever we did at Twinsanity Island has caused the change on N. Sanity Island over time. If that's the case... you can point the blame on me for getting the island into this mess."

"Uncle Neo!" Nina exclaimed to him.

"Don't blame yourself, doc", growled Crunch as he clutched his fists into a furious pose. "It's Squadron Gemini that did this, and they are going to pay for it!"

"No..."

Crunch showed surprise upon Cortex's response, his expression becoming more regretful over time. There, the brown bandicoot ended up releasing the grip upon his fists, looking further upon the scientist's face.

"The Evil Twins were MY pet parrots, and it's MY past that brought us all into this mess."

He sighed, before pointing his head back to the ground again. While most of the group felt uncertain about the scientist's will to move on, Crash ended up making his advance towards him, placing a hand upon his shoulders.

"Hey, I don't want you to blame yourself for this whole thing. There is no way that that can provide a direct influence on the Gemini's attack."

Cortex remained in silence for five seconds, before steadily bringing his head towards the bandicoot's direction. "You want to bet 10 Wumpa Fruit on it?"

With a face filled with confidence, Crash gave off a light smirk while revealing a part of his tongue, nodding his head with determination as a whole. He then used his arms to steadily bring Cortex back onto both feet.

"Trust me, I'm sure that this island will restore itself somehow", beamed Crash. "We have the faith."

He gave off a confident smile back at the scientist, whom still continued to show a face filled with fear all around him. While they both made their way back to the others, they in effect showed more concerned faces than ever.

"Crash, how do we expect to take him down without heavy artillery?" Coco asked in a nervous tone. "I mean, even he might knock out Crunch with his eyes closed!"

"No way will that be possible!" retaliated Crunch. "But yeah, you do have a point in saying that fighting him won't be easy."

"Is that a call for help I hear?" shouted a mysterious voice.

The call of the female voice was echoed right across the clearing, which in turn left the group to look around the scene and track down the source of the voice. And then… a shadow came from the top of a nearby cliff.

It then brought out claws from its hands and quickly abseiled its way towards the ground, landing gracefully on four limbs before bringing herself into the light. The golden fur, bright clothing and deep blue hair instantly showed her as Kazaa.

All that the group could do was look on at her with amazement – somehow, she often seems to be waiting for the right time and the right place to show up. Within the group, Crash stepped forward, with his eyes twitching.

"Kazaa, what are you doing here?" Crash asked her.

"I heard you needed help trying to get to the Kaiser. And I know just the way."

She gave off a confident smile as she managed to take a hold of Crash's hand, thus bringing him towards the marble wall itself. While that happened, Cortex brought his attention to Bev, his face showing an indifferent emotion.

"Do you suppose you must have taught her too much?" the scientist asked her in a lower voice than the usual.

Back with Crash she reached the wall and brought out her claws as she got closer. "It's right here. Have a try at feeling that with your own hands."

Kazaa pointed on at a portion of the wall that looked no different than the others aside from a darker shade placed upon it. That left Crash to gave out an expression of curiosity as he managed to come close to it.

Then, he used his hands to be able to touch the surface. He twitched his eye at the response, which in turn left Coco to run to the scene herself and stroke the surface. She too showed surprise at the touch.

"It feels so… dusty?"

"For lack of better wording, maybe", she responded with a relaxed tone and a twitch of the nose. "Mind, given what has been provided we're in for the weakest point among the wall. Should that be broken down you should be able to reach the Kaiser's stronghold over time."

Crunch beamed from the sidelines. "Kazaa, you're a life saver!"

With an optimistic smile, Crunch made his way straight towards the wall, with his hands clutched as tightly as possible. He then managed to charge straight at the dustier portions, his optimistic expression continuing to show.

But… once there, he ended up crashing into the structures, squashing against it like a fly on flypaper. He then slid down it and looked on at the structures, the surface still looking pretty much intact.

"But… it's still too hard to punch down?" he asked in a confused tone.

"I'm afraid so", frowned Kazaa, "but that doesn't make it impenetrable."

She gave out a light smile as she looked on at the structure, as well as a smaller path that was brought directly behind her. A light breeze then picked up, allowing her hair to start blowing gently within the wind.

"I'm sure there's something you can use in the waste clearing up ahead, to try and use to bring down the hole itself. I have a lot of faith within you all, I am sure."

"You just wait right there", said Crash with a sneer on his face. "We'll be back with the toughest texture we can find."

Crash gave out an optimistic smile as he ended up making his walk straight along the pathway. He showed a confident smile, as he knew that he would be able to bring something straight out from that area of the mountain alive.

Within the others, Cortex managed to emerge and start following him, drawing out his laser pistol with a confident look. Coco also showed as much concern through her own eyes, leaving her to make her run straight towards him.

That left Kazaa alone with Bev, Crunch and Nina by her side. Silence passed them for several seconds at a time, but as soon as that was over, the Black Seagull herself provided a light smile towards her comrade.

"You know Kazaa, your hunting skills have been growing strength to strength since you first joined us."

"Thanks", smiled the mercat. "Could have been a bit more confident with the whole thing given what happened back at my old home."

Crunch's eyes widened. "What happened?"

Kazaa tried to open her mouth to speak, but in the end… she gave out a light blink, and just brought her head straight down towards the ground, her ears quivering with fear upon her own rampaging thoughts.

"I take you don't want to express anything just yet?" he said in a sympathetic tone.

"I'd rather not. I just want to see this damn menace gone before I can do anything relating to the home I came from."

She sat down on a nearby rock, leaving room for her tail to twitch among the surface as she sat down. That left her to look on towards the ocean horizon along her, the strobe lights glistening among the waters.

Her hair soon managed to hide her face, which ended up leaving her with a light frown showing around her. From nearby, Bev managed to notice her and stroke her lightly upon her back, leaving the mercat to blink at the response.

"I understand."

Kazaa's ears then pointed up. "Really?"

She looked back towards Bev with a melancholy yet hopeful expression around her; a light smile upon her gradually started to show upon her, as she knew that she was gaining support from the rebellion group around her.

Her tail started to twitch happily from side to side, leaving her to show a more peaceful status all around her. She gave out a light blink of the eyes and left her attention to focus straight on at the opening once more.

The shadows of Crash, Cortex and Coco were seen vanishing slowly into the distance, as they managed to venture deep within pastorals completely unknown to them. That left faces of curiosity upon the others, wondering how they would fare.

No one knew what they would eventually find down there. No one knew _if _they would eventually find anything down there. But as far as they know, the sub-venture could make all the difference between world saving and world domination.

A difference that is easily hanging on the edge of the world's fate…

* * *

The plains that resided on the outer edges of Meteor Mountain were shown to be spacious Wasteland-type regions that managed to expand themselves for almost two miles before advancing towards the edge. 

Within them, the sands were shown to be smooth to walk through, although colored red to match the brimstone established upon the rocks and a few traces of leafless trees that were established right around the clearing.

Within the area, Crash, Cortex and Coco were seen making their walk through the scene with faces filled with wonder as they went through the haunted scene for itself, the winds easily blowing straight through their bodies.

"Crash, are you sure looking through this place is a good idea?" asked Cortex in a hesitant voice. "Because I for one don't like the looks of this place."

"Are you telling me you're afraid of everything and anything?"

Crash growled towards Cortex before turning straight into his direction, whom can only show a fearful look back. They remained in silence for a while, before the bandicoot blinked and continued to look around.

There, the sands were seen brushing up against his feet, and thus providing a smooth and pleasure-full sensation as they went across the lower parts of his legs. That left him to gently smile before turning back to the others.

"Heck, surely this can't be as bad as Twinsanity Island. I mean, look at this place – we're still at a firm sense of security that we should end up returning back where we started."

He brought his attention back towards the opening that he came through with Cortex and Coco, showing much of the pathway that in turn led into the deeper regions of the volcanic structures itself.

Walking near the entrance was Coco, whom was seen with her hands locked behind her back, looking on at various tall wall structures. She showed a wide-eyed expression all around her, giving off a light smile upon her face.

"Coco, did you find anything yet?" he asked her.

"Not yet, but I feel that given the intensity of the rocks we might come across something soon."

She then started to make her walk back towards Crash's direction, looking on at the rocky structures leading to his position. As she walked, she saw that most of which were gradually becoming brittle as they reached the edge of the volcanic plains.

But… all of a sudden, she took a step forward and as she did that, a crack was heard on the ground. She looked beneath her, and saw the ground starting to shake over time, with smaller cracks forming.

"Coco, look out!" Crash exclaimed towards her.

She then looked down to her feet, showing fear upon her own face. "AAAH!"

In an instant, Crash ran to her direction and took a hold of her arms, long before the ground that she was standing on crumbled into nothing like ice on a skating rink, thus revealing nothing more than a deep pit with nothing but lava at the bottom.

"Hm, well…" Coco gulped. "Maybe this place isn't so safe after all?"

Crash lowered his head, showing a more bitter expression upon him. "Just keep with me and we'll see if we can keep advancing onwards."

Coco showed a face filled with deep concern as she was guided by Crash towards the other side of the clearing. The vision of the collapsing rubble couldn't leave her mind at all, knowing that it could easily scare her for a long while.

Meanwhile, back with Cortex, the scenery left him to show further fear around his face. Shaking his limbs, he managed to place himself into a firm position around a slightly larger boulder than himself. But… his eyes soon widened.

"Wait a minute…!"

He looked over the boulder, and saw a lot of pebble-like rubble situated around it, with something that looked like antique gold being maintained within the stones. He then made his walk around the boulder and looked deep towards its structures.

"Is that… treasure?"

Crash noticed his actions from nearby. "Oh great…"

Cortex's eyes widened with wonder at the structure as he slowly placed his hands towards it, a devious smile showing on his hands. However, Crash started to run faster, with Coco sliding behind him, while maintaining a panicked look upon him.

"Don't touch it! It could curse you just as much as anything!"

His face was filled with horror as Cortex came closer and closer towards the golden structure. His hands started to twitch as the distance between his hand and the object became shorter over time.

And then, he managed to take a grasp around the metal itself. All that Crash could do was come to a stop as he watched the reaction between Cortex and the object… but nothing happened at all between them.

"Wait a minute…" Crash looked confused. "It didn't?"

"More specifically…" Cortex focused his eyes upon the object. "What kind of scrap metal is this?"

Cortex then pulled the metallic structure out from the ground, which in itself was shown to be a curved claw like shape. It had an arm-like extension on the back, but with some wires sticking out from it.

He then managed to give a light stroke towards the metallic rim – almost as if it was pristine in structure. He smiled before opening up the claw for himself, with Coco soon analyzing the situation from her distant position.

"Wow, is that… a hypno-disc?"

She gave out a gasp as she managed to make her way closer, her feet twitching further over time. And once there, she took a grasp onto the disc wedged within the machine – one that had red and white colors spiraled around it.

"I don't know if we need the hypno-disc", Crash blinked, "but we'll sure as heck have a try at returning the metal back with us. It may be useful should Nina want it."

Coco gave out a light smile as she folded up the hypno-disc and placed it within one of her pockets wedged within her pants. While that happened, Cortex tried to lift the claw from above the ground while he started to walk.

And so they all started to make their return straight towards the opening that they came from, with the items they claimed at tow. No one knew how affective the items could be until they could eventually be used in practice.

But what they did know was that they might have find the right equipment to force their way straight through to the Kaiser's lair, depending on the general structure of the equipment in general.

Where the foreign items came from, they didn't know. And who owned the metallic arm to begin with, they certainly didn't care.

* * *

Back at Kyle's headquarters, the seaside scenery was shown to be at their quietest. Only a few black crows flying around the scene could tend to break the silence, which in turn provided a gentle atmospheric touch all around the scene. 

Deep within the HQ building itself, Kyle was seen making his way towards a door that went untouched right at the opposite end of the entrance. After emerging through the crumbled roof parts from Cortex's fall earlier, he managed to make his way there.

He then opened the door, thus bringing himself into a light dome-like building, where a small tunnel was seen provided deep underground. He then dashed down a set of stone steps, deep within the building's basement.

Once there he turned the light on, and right there he managed to see into an underground garage. Within it, a sole machine can be seen within it – a blimp type machine, standing with various majestic blue shades although some parts were still obscured in darkness.

Right at the door were various technical carvings brought around it, including four letters that read the word "CODA" in a vertical fashion. At the sight of it, Kyle managed to smile at the accomplishment of the machine.

At that moment, no one knows when the machine would be used to its full glory. But he knew that when it would, it would be one step in contributing to the restoring of peace all around the island. For all he knew, it's wedged in him as a fact.

_-end of part 6-_


	7. Gemini's Stairway

AUTHOR'S NOTES

Might as well advance to part 7 - my longest part yet, and I wasn't intending on it either. X.x But hey, it's on time!

So anyway, this area focuses on at finally looking on at the other side of the marble wall around Meteor Mountain, this coming in closer towards the Squadron Gemini's operation. It's here that a light surprise is brought around with what they have done, as well as wanting to explore a little bit of Kazaa's past while I'm here (although most of you whom have read my age-old crossovers at DeviantArt will understand what occurred with her anyway). I also wanted to have a bit of fun and slip in some light haiku-structured dialogue near the middle; maybe to link over what I did with Olga's personality in The Curse of Misty Island but we'll see.

Thanks to everyone who read – and in some cases dropped a comment down the line – as I can tell that this has worked well in driving the fic forward. Talking of commentary… EcoBlood, it sounds nice that you wanted to incorporate a character into what has been provided, but I can't really accept it; usually when I write fics I ask for characters in the planning stage, so that I know how to take the character forward. I'm too late in the fic's gradual submission to take in charrie submissions.

Now that I mention it, if anyone wants me to use a charrie in a future fic, it'll be nice if they aren't Mary Sues or Gary Stus, as the last thing I was seeking for is someone too perfect; may end up diverting the attention away from the main hero as such. I used to do those decisions a bit too much when I was younger, but it helps to have a wider range of personalities to match the storyline.

Anyway, this marks the conclusion for what can be felt to be the second act in the fic; three more parts left to go, and it's all to come towards a more climatic portion from here on in. Be prepared, heh. 3

Peace out,

_Rexy_

* * *

The marble wall that stood around the unexplored premises of Meteor Mountain was still seen standing firmly within the night light. The feather-like patterns were seen giving off a crystal shine every few seconds or so. 

Leaning among the wall were Crunch, Bev, Nina and Kazaa, all looking up towards the night skies; the individual stars and strobe lights were seen reflecting upon their eyes, leaving them to face reflective looks upon their faces.

But the actions were soon interrupted when the sound of some walking feet was heard from nearby; they looked towards the way into the wasteland areas of the mountain, where Crash, Cortex and Coco were seen making their return.

"We're back", smiled the orange bandicoot.

Bev managed to bring herself onto her feet quickly. "So did you manage to find anything?"

"Yeah", Coco nodded. "We managed to find an interesting claw-like device that might be able to help penetrate the walls."

Coco managed to make a brisk walk towards the others, taking a grasp upon the metallic arm as she managed to make her way further. From her angle, Nina looked on at it, and… right at the closer sight of it, she frowned.

"Gold? God no, it'll clash with my dress!"

"It may do", said Cortex sympathetically, "but it could be our only choice to break down the wall. Just slip it on and see what you can do."

Nina then sighed angrily. "Fine."

She then growled before she ended up pinching the claw right from Coco's hands, leaving her to show a wide-faced expression of shock around her. She then ended up sighing and brought her attention to the others.

As she settled with Bev and Kazaa, she managed to look further on at Nina whom was having problems trying to lock the claw around her hands; it wasn't long until Crunch soon came on over to help her out.

The young bandicoot gave out a warm smile as she saw the reaction between the pair; they could have made a good friendly pair had they not been on opposite forces of good and evil as a whole. But what she didn't notice… was the hypno-disc being seen poking out from her pockets.

"Coco..." Bev paused. "What's with the hypno-disc?"

"That? We found it inside the mechanism. I don't know if we need it."

"Was it actually wedged inside it to begin with?" Kazaa asked Coco with curiosity.

"Yeah, why?"

Kazaa's face suddenly came to a halt. There, her ears were brought down her face, and in an instant, her eyes widened with a melancholy feeling showing around her. She then ended up bringing her face towards the direction of the ocean once more.

"That was one of the objects used that destroyed my childhood home."

She gave out a frown, before bringing herself sitting on a nearby rock, her legs grasping around the front like a claw stuck upon it. Her tail was then brought down upon the other side, like a loose object carrying around her.

The expression then managed to catch the attention of Coco, whom ended up blinking before making a graceful walk towards her. As soon as she reached her, she placed a hand upon Kazaa's paw-like hands, which were shown to be slightly bigger than hers in comparison.

"Now that we think of it", Coco started, "where _was_ your childhood home?"

"In the subterranean depths of the Pacific Ocean", replied Kazaa. "I lived with a lot of Mercats just like myself, and we all got along just fine. But one day... some strange psychotic figure used that device to warp the minds of my loved ones all at once. And then..."

As she spoke, her hair blew in the wind as the harsh memories of the events managed to slip past her mind. And when she paused… her hair stopped blowing, with her facial expression freezing on the spot.

She brought her head to the ground, and it was there that she started to form a tear upon her eyes, which in turn was dropped to the ground. All that Coco could do was simply frown a sympathetic frown.

"I can't remember much else, but I can say that my childhood home was no more."

The mercat gave out a deep sigh, before another tear was rolled down the rock, trickling straight towards the ground as it did so. That left Coco to come closer to her, and eventually grant a gentle hug around her body.

"Aw, don't feel bad about yourself Kazaa. I understand your feelings, but I hope that some day your home will be restored within time."

The mercat gave out a frown. "How can that be possible?"

She gave out a light blink towards the bandicoot, whom in turn started to show a more determined approach through her own two eyes. Her hands were then grasped tightly as she showed a more determined look around her.

"I feel that once this battle is over", started the young bandicoot, "this world will be exactly the way it was before this menace came around. That should also help for your concern underwater."

Kazaa brought her attention closely towards Coco's face, which showed a gentle smile over time. She then turned back towards the ocean waves, which in turn was continuing to show grace within the strobe lights.

She then turned back to Coco and smiled, ready to show gratitude via speaking again, until… the sound of stone smashing was heard from nearby. They looked towards the marble wall, and indeed, the weak spot was nothing more than a hole in the wall and a bunch of rubble near it.

"The entrance has crumbled!" beamed Nina. "This means we've got a free path towards the stronghold!

She then gestured at the hole, leaving the others to make their dash straight towards the scene, their expressions showing more determination and hope over time. There, the stronghold was seen standing nearby, although… its height was shown to be more majestic than once thought.

"Wow, talk about a long climb up", blinked Crunch.

"It may be long", Nina smiled as she turned back to him, "but in all honesty we can get there."

She gave off a confident smile as she carefully made her way through the hole in the wall, leaving off light dusty footsteps upon the ground. And it wasn't long until the others then managed to follow her in an instant.

They knew for a fact that they would be in for a long climb towards the top of the stronghold; whatever they could be able to find inside it could be worth reflecting upon over time, providing the overall use of the scene.

Problem is, they knew that something could be found, in any shape or form.

* * *

Several hours managed to pass since their excursion straight towards the Kaiser's mountain lair. Its tall and majestic structures were shown to portray a strong feel towards the sinister colors that were brought around the building 

Many flights of stairs were seen, aiding in the majestic structures of the building which in turn provided a peak towards one of the tallest regions of the island; one that could even manage to touch some of the strobe lights upon the sky.

The corridors itself were no different – shades of dark blue scattered it, with minimal electric lights to aid on the way. The checkered stone floor was shown to be cold upon the very touch; a very uneasy sight for much of the group as they made their way up the lengthy staircase that resided in the middle of the building.

"How many floors left?" asked Crash, struggling to gain his breath.

Coco then looked up from her position. "Just the one, given the amount of steps we've got left to climb."

Coco looked her way straight down and saw the amount of steps that she and the others climbed up beforehand; even there, the ground floor could not at all be seen from her position at all; the way down looked more like a kaleidoscope of black, white and blue if anything.

Even Bev managed to make a stop and look over the side of the stair's rails. There, she brought out a small pin from a pocket etched within her shirt, and dropped it down the side. Time passed, and it wasn't until 20 seconds later until she finally heard a click upon the ground.

"Uh-huh, this can be seen as one Hell of a way down."

She frowned, before sealing her pocket and continuing to make her way towards the others. By then, the amount of stairs they were climbing was being reduced further and further as time went on.

Eventually, they reached the very top, where a metallic door was seen blocking the way forward. Crash was the first to reach it, his fingers twitching deviously as he came closer and closer with a smirk on his face.

"This must be it. Let's see what this Kaiser has for us!"

Crash then took a hold onto a wheel that managed to lock the door into place, and then pulled it round two turns to the right. That left him to step right inside, with a bright flash of blue light coming across his eyes.

"Whoa!"

The light soon faded out around him, and it was there that he got the chance to see the room in full operation; a lot of electronic equipment was seen set up right around the room's menacing structures, which have been reflected upon the machinery themselves.

Various generators were seen providing colossal amounts of electricity per second, which in turn were easily reflected upon their wavy patterns around the ceiling. There, Crash's expression showed more fear as a result.

While that happened, most of the others came into the room and saw much of the room in operation. Within their focus, Cortex ended up looking straight on at a larger machine in the middle of the room – a familiar shape to his eyes.

"What's the Psychotron doing here?" he then panicked.

"Relax Doc", nodded Crash. "I'm sure yours is still in safe hands. I mean, look, the metallic designs are nowhere near the same as yours."

Crash gave out a light smile as he pointed on at the structure. There, the patterns were indeed shown to be much different than the one shown at Cortex's laboratory – more metallic green paint, and less direction on anatomy and positioning.

There, they all looked on at the machine and its cables that managed to run through the ceiling; it was by that opportunity that they knew that the machine was in heavy operation, shaping the world for the worse.

"Is there any way that we can probably close this down before this world faces any more serious twisted changes?" Cortex asked the others.

Coco raised a light eyebrow. "I'll see if I can look around the cables."

Coco then started to step her way through the room, with a light and curious smile showing upon her. She then managed to reach the back of the machine, where she took a hold onto a black cable that seemed to face a lengthy spaghetti formation right across the floor.

"Hm, looks a bit long though..."

She pulled hard upon the wire, leaving her to end up bringing in more black cable towards her direction. Eventually she started to tug more in her direction, hooking some around her arm to help generate more space.

However, it wasn't long until the length of the cable eventually left her twisted within the structures, leaving her to tumble and fall onto the floor. In the background, Nina was shown smirking with a devious smile on her face.

"Shut up Nina!" Coco shouted furiously. "This isn't a laughing matter!"

But Nina didn't stop laughing – instead, she continued to point on at Coco's direction, before eventually falling onto the floor herself and using her hands to thump hard upon the floor, a face filled with extreme amusement showing upon her.

Within the background, all that Bev and Kazaa could do were shake their heads at her direction; eventually, the Black Seagull herself managed to take a grasp upon Nina's arm, pulling her up towards her level.

"Please Nina, whatever you do, don't wind up Coco again. We're here to cooperate as a team."

"So?" she sulked back. "She's a right girly girl, isn't she?"

"Maybe so", said Kazaa in a low tone, "but she's still essential to the whole operation."

Kazaa showed a light scowl towards Nina's direction as she took a hold of her other arm, whom could only just sulk back at them before kicking furiously upon the ground around her own position.

While that happened, Coco gradually managed to untangle herself, while ending up coming towards the end of the cable; a plug socket was indeed placed within it. She gave off a light smile as she took a hold of the cable for herself.

"I found the end of the cable! But... it looks like it's wedged deep in the socket. How will we get at it?"

Crunch showed determination as he came closer. "I'll try snapping it."

Crunch gave off a confident smile as he ended up making his walk towards her. That left her to end up showing a light and reflective look as he came much closer. And once there, he brought his eyes towards the wire from his position.

He then picked up the cable with one hand, and gave off a confident smile as he then pulled hard at both opposite ends. But… no matter how hard he tried to pull them apart, they ended up struggling to break as a whole.

"Not quite as firm as I was expecting. Any assistance?"

Nina managed to release her grasp from Bev and Kazaa, a light smile showing upon her. "I'll come through with that one."

She made a casual skip towards the others, taking a hold of the metallic claw as she did so. There, she managed to apply it right over the cable. And in her lightest grasp possible… the cable was snapped into pieces.

And then… the machine slowly started to shut down. Its machinery operation showed itself to steadily slow down over time, before it then came to a stop instantly. And then, there followed the generators themselves.

That left the room to steadily bring its way into the darkness. Nothing but black ended up showing the room in itself, leaving details to be difficult to be able to see as a whole. That left Crash to take a step back over time.

"Wow, this is creepy", whispered Crash.

"You sure can say that again", Cortex followed.

Nina brought herself into a light frown. "I can barely see...!"

Cortex and Nina showed matching panicked expressions, both of them showing their own senses of fear hidden through their eyes upon the darkness. He then took a hold upon her arm, leaving them to come at light ease with one another.

But… it wasn't long until a light hiss of white smoke started to make its way across the room, some of the light around it providing a light neon glow to soon fill the room once more. They showed faces filled with wonder as time managed to advance.

"Who dared to turn off the machine?"

The deep voice left Kazaa to scream from her position and literally jump within Crunch's arms, her fish-like tail quivering on the spot. All the brown bandicoot could do was show his pupils shrink down to the size of peas.

During that occasion, the doors opened up, allowing a shadow to end up making its way right through the streaming – and in some cases, blinding - white light that managed to come out from it. A familiar, broad shadow.

"Oh, so it's you again. I never thought I'd be able to see your faces since our last encounters. In fact, we may even know you sooner than you think."

The figure then made his way out, and indeed showed himself in full glory – Kaiser Gemini himself. He showed a vicious smile as he looked on at the group, even more so with Coco whom started to cry with fear as she edged closer towards Bev.

"He's really creeping me out!" Coco screamed towards her.

"Shhh!"

"You may have turned off the machine by now", said the Kaiser, "but you can tell that the submachine on top of the volcano is still and always will be in operation."

Cortex gave out a light blink. "There's a sub-machine for this thing?"

"So this may not quite be a Psychotron prototype after all", Crash muttered with a light nose twitch.

Crash brought his attention back towards the machine; very similar to the Psychotron given the energetic white light that once shone upon it. He looked right above it, focusing back on the ceiling cables; they indeed were shown to be much broader than on first glance.

"If that's the case", he started as he turned back to the Kaiser, "what is it?"

"It is the weapon of this land's destruction. Eventually, the whole world will face the same twisted nature this island has faced, and you won't even live long enough to see it."

He gave out a vicious smirk as he came further out towards the group; in turn Crash came out from the light, the brightness of the light instantly showing around his body. But… his face soon showed more seriousness as the door that lead inside the building opened up again.

And there, not one, not two but many shadows at a time were seen emerging towards the scene. They soon managed to march in, and in turn take up the perimeter of the room. Their general appearance made them obvious to know who they are.

"More of the Squadron?" Crash questioned with horror.

Kazaa gave out a light wink at the sight of them. "I'm sure we can cope hard against them."

Kazaa showed a confident expression as she brought out her claws from her paws, ready to attack them. But even with that happening, more soldiers were seen coming inside the room, heavily outnumbering the group.

"Why do I have a feeling we could easily end up being ambushed here?" Crash asked Bev from his direction.

"Relax, Crash. Somehow, we'll get in there and show this army what we're made of."

She gave off a laid back smile as the numbers increased. Crash looked back at her; surely she might have been the main figure in a big rebellion, he thought, but could she really have faced worse than this?

Eventually, the numbers that managed to come inside the building started to die down. That left him to show a twitch upon his face, as he knew what kind of army that he was set to fight against as a whole.

"Alright, let's go."

Crash showed a confident expression as he gradually managed to make his way towards the scene. Alongside them, the others managed to come near them, showing equal expressions of determination around them.

There, the soldiers branched into two separate sides – some on the left, and some on the right. That left the Kaiser to make his walk straight down the middle, his menacing expression continuing to send chills towards the others.

They all took a closer step forward towards them, leaving them to show more concerned expressions as time went on. As soon as they were a mere 15 steps away from the opposing party, Crash brought himself into a sudden stop, his eyes slightly squinting as that happened.

"You guys just square off against the squadron soldiers. I'll deal with the Kaiser myself!"

And so the group then branched into different directions; within them, Crash was seen making his dash straight towards the Kaiser and most of the others ventured straight towards the incoming Squadron soldiers around them.

Near the left of the room, Cortex was seen making his way straight towards a small gang of which, with his laser being brought out in tow. He then smirked as he aimed it straight towards his opponents while running.

"Want a piece of me?"

The guards then tried to run and attack him with their own weaponry, but even there, Cortex managed to spend more time ducking and dodging their techniques – enjoying it – more than fighting back.

And when he did shoot back, much of the shots ended up striking the opponents upon their chests, bringing them down in a few shots at a time. As he managed to bring down five soldiers in a row, he continued to smile optimistically.

"Hahah, this is almost too easy!"

He then smirked as he looked on at the nose of his weapon, which was seen giving off a light amount of smoke on the end. But just as when he was about to taunt further… a nearby shadow ended up coming above him.

"Oh no..."

The shadow then ended up making its pounce straight above Cortex, before showing itself as a majestic squadron member which in turn was shown to be twice as big as the scientist as a whole.

That left him to scream at the sight of him, before running from his grasp. The bigger creature then fought back with pounding its hands to the ground, leaving Cortex to jump from his position at every pounce, hesitance showing upon him.

He was then brought into a corner, where he knew that he could be tortured by the opponent. It then came gradually – 10 feet, 8 feet, 6, 4, and eventually 2. Its fists were clutched together, ready to attack the scientist.

"Leave my Uncle alone, sick freak!"

Suddenly, from right behind him, Nina used her hands to take a tight grasp around the bigger creature's neck, which left it to squeal upon its response; a deep bruise and some light turquoise blood was seen starting to trickle down from its position.

She then released her grasp upon the creature, which started to show pain as he eventually collapsed upon the ground. She sneered, before looking behind her; more Squadron members were seen making their run towards her.

"How would you like a gold old clip round the ear?" she shouted back towards them.

She made her run past many Squadron members, which ended up almost flinching at the very attack of her hands. As soon as she dashed past the group herself, she then managed to turn around and run once more.

She then managed to approach one particular member of the group, whom in turn ended up jumping at the sight of her hands. However… as soon as she made a grasp around them… she ended up tearing the shoes off, as well as a good portion of its tight leather pants.

She ended up gasping at the sight of what she achieved, although unable to see inside the shoes due to the pants covering up the shoe holes. She then continued to look on at the creature's legs, looking like it was unable to walk.

"Whoa..."

But out from the torn leather pants, the creature brought its feet out, bare and intact; bird-like feet with claws upon the end of them. She ended up bringing out a gentle blink towards its direction, lightly smiling as she did so.

Eventually she then continued to fight on against the creatures, with Cortex eventually gaining enough coverage to use his laser pistol to fight on by her side, a more confident look showing all around him.

At the other side of the room went another bunch of Squadron members, whom in turn started to surround Bev. All she could do was just stand casually in a nearby corner, showing a vicious glance around her teeth.

"Let's see if we can keep on going against you. You won't even stand a chance!"

Naturally, the Squadron didn't hear what she said. She then ended up making her way straight towards them, showing a more serious expression through her eyes as time continued to creep around her.

There, she clutched her fists tightly before making her dash straight towards them, her feet dashing at a furious pace to match that as a graceful ballerina. At the same time the Squadron soldiers were seen making their dash towards her in return.

"Take this!" she shouted with a chuckle.

She brought back her fists, and instantly made her thrust straight towards the soldiers, pushing over several of which to the ground upon approach. She came to a skid-filled stop, before looking on at some of the remaining Squardon soldiers, drawing out laser guns and aiming them at her.

"Don't even think about it."

They then tried to shoot her, leaving her to duck underneath the shots in an instant. After several of which came by, she then made a graceful jump above, with the laser shots almost skimming her hair as time went on.

Upon landing on the ground, her face showed more panic over time. She looked straight towards the other soldiers, who then were advancing closer and closer, almost certain to attack her down the line.

"Leave her alone!"

The shout left Bev to give out a light twitch of the eye, before looking right behind her; right there, Kazaa was seen making a dash from the darkness, occasionally running along the walls as she managed to come closer.

And as soon as she reached the soldiers, she brought out her claws and jumped straight towards two of which, knocking the guns out of their hands before spinning into their direction and bringing them down to the floor.

"How do you like it to find someone slapping back?"

Kazaa then growled on at some of the other Squadron soldiers, whom ended up exchanging light eye twitches around them. She then managed to make her way towards them, her claws still showing within the faint light.

Right at the sight of the harsh structures, some of which ended up flinching and making their way away from the two girls, before advancing to other group members around the room. That left Kazaa to lightly chuckle at the occasion.

"And stay away from her!"

She gave out a confident smile before looking straight on at Bev, whom ended up showing a relieved smile from her crouched position. There, the two girls came close to one another, before analyzing the battle from their position.

At another side of the room, Coco was seen being steadily surrounded by various other Squadron soldiers, which left her almost shaking at the sight of their monstrous appearances. But that was until she brought herself into a light fighting stance, showing a twitch upon her face.

"Let's go!"

And right at the call, she made her jump up into the air and brought her hands straight on top of the enemies' shoulders as she flipped over them. As she got behind them she used her feet to literally kick as many opponents as she can down to the ground.

"Feel the power of girls!" she exclaimed in a cheesy sounding voice.

She then turned around, and brought her legs into a light spinning kick motion, knocking over various other Squadron soldiers towards their feet. She then smirked as she managed to face the occasion.

But… that was until another set of soldiers came from behind her, armed with flamethrowers as their choice of arsenal. They then started to aim their weapons towards her, shooting the fire directly at her afterwards… leaving her to duck in time but only to leave a few of her strands of hair to frizzle before dropping off.

"Aaah! You almost burnt me!" she shouted with hesitance.

"Won't be for long!"

She looked up from above the flames, and managed to see Crunch's boots within her eyesight. The brown bandicoot himself was seen running towards her direction, which left her with a hopeful expression.

Then he managed to leap over her, literally dashing through the fire with only his metallic arm to block the heat. Once at the soldiers, he managed to pounce on top of the others, gradually stopping the rate of fire as time advanced.

"Eat dust, suckers!"

He smirked as he managed to come out from the fire, his fur slightly singed from the experience. He then managed to advance to Coco and bring her back on both feet, leaving them to look on at the middle of the room… only to see Crash being thrown right across the room.

"Crash!" he gasped at him.

Indeed, he was hurled right into the side of the Psychotron clone, which ended up leaving Crash to show a light amount of pain upon his back as he crashed upon it. With a worried look around him, he then looked up ahead of him, only to see a crucial scenario unfold.

The Kaiser was seen making his direct dash straight towards him, leaving him to show a more worried expression as that happened. That left Crash to roll out of the way before his opponent could make his move.

"I'm hanging on as tight as I can!" he said with hesitance.

"Shame you won't even live long enough to escape!"

The Kaiser then growled on at Crash before making his direct run towards him, whom in turn managed to leapfrog directly over his shoulders. That left the opponent to show a curious expression as that happened.

Crash then managed to make his move by bringing his fists back, making his dash straight towards him with his fists out towards him. Just as when he was about to attack his opponent… the Kaiser picked him up strongly by his nose

"Yeaaargh", he shouted with a muted tone.

He then picked up Crash with ease, before throwing him straight into a wall… but before the bandicoot could even inflict damage, he changed his body posture mid flight, allowing him to land upon the wall in a Spider-Man fashion before kicking off.

He then jumped his way straight back towards the Kaiser, instantly shunting him upon the chest. That left him to end up losing his balance over time, before eventually falling upon the ground himself.

"TAKE THIS!"

Crash brought himself into a jumping motion as he pounced on the Kaiser upon his stomach, leaving him to show an increasing face with pain and anger showing upon his own sinister expression.

He soon managed to bring himself back onto both feet, bringing Crash into a backwards roll upon the ground before he in turn reclaimed his standing position. That left the two figures to make the dash towards one another again.

Several punches were thrown at each other. Several punches to each other were somehow dodged. On one occasion, the Kaiser ended up jumping from his position… bringing himself into a strong backwards roll as he did so. But… while that happened, Crash brought himself into a charge towards him, instantly shunting him on the stomach and forcing him to the other side of the room.

The force pushed the Kaiser straight towards the socket… where on contact, the cable remains were cut off, leaving a powerful electric current to expose itself from the inner areas of the wall and in turn conduct around his body.

As soon as that happened, an energetic surge started to show right around him; a face filled with pain was shown around him as time advanced, which was soon doubled every time his broad skeleton was shown within it.

Within the background, Crash showed a wide-eyed expression as the force became stronger and stronger, which in turn left the figure's fur to stand on end. And right at his loudest scream, some of the generators started to short circuit and in time were exploded, leaving a gush of deep gray smoke to cover the room.

"Whoa..." he muttered while coughing within the smoke.

The smoke soon faded out, leaving the room to be able to be brought back into a firmer viewpoint. There, much of the equipment in there was covered with black marks and soot around them, being the results of the explosion.

Yet, the Psychotron-based machine was still seen intact, although still not in operation. Crash scratched his head, before looking around the room with widened eyes, eventually focusing them upon a pile of rubble nearby.

But from out of there, a rumble started to form, but that was before two electric-coated hands were seen around them. The user then pushed them off him, revealing him as the Kaiser once more; this time, an electric current was brought around him, and his fur was turned into an eerie neon color.

"Nice try, but your fighting has only made me feel many times stronger than before. This energy will eventually provide enough power to be able to finish the job, and soon this world will face the true era of darkness it has long been seeking for!"

The figure continued to show a figure of eeriness around its expression, before continuing to glow further around the room; the immense light was seen reflecting strongly around the others, which left them to show equally shocked expressions around them.

Then, he managed to make his dash towards a nearby window, leaping straight outside as if he was treating a hurdle. Crash managed to dash towards the surface himself, only to see the Kaiser take off into the air with the use of a jetpack upon his back.

"Wait, come back!" Crash shouted towards him.

His calls were then echoed right around the plain… which in turn left nothing more than feedback flowing within his ears for several seconds at a time. He then sighed, before making his way back to the others once more.

Each of them showed worried expressions, as they knew that they may have won the battle but knew that the war is still continuing on. Crash brought his attention towards the cables leading through the ceiling, and it was there that they in turn were starting to shake lightly from their positions.

He then looked on at the panel of the machine, where his reflection was reflected upon the metallic structures. The metallic green tint left it to show a more reflective motion than beforehand, leaving him to blink more rapidly.

"I failed you all... I can't believe it."

All of a sudden, his face started to show pure sadness. His ears then drooped down, and his eyes became more watery in structure. As a result he sat down on the floor, the cold and bitter nature of the stones beneath him causing more pain to match with his failure.

"Maybe he is right. The incoming nature of the era of darkness is enough to heavily weaken me down. And given that he also imprisoned me within an instant, I feel disappointed."

He sighed, before looking onto the ground, his sorrowful expression easily reflecting upon the metallic floor brought around them. Behind him, the others gradually came to him and showed their own equally disappointed expressions.

But within them, there were some hopeful looks shown upon the light sea of faces. Within them, Cortex showed a light expression filled with optimism brought right the way around him; that in turn left him to take a step forward within the group.

"Crash, there's no need to say that. Even through times like this, you give the people hope. If it weren't for your cooperation, this island wouldn't at all be facing a rebellion to begin with."

He then advanced to patting him upon the shoulder, which in turn left Crash to gradually make his turn back towards him. He lightly blinked at him, while at the same time ended up trying to force a smile, although it was shown to be a light twitch if anything.

Coco then advanced towards him with a light twitch of the eye around her, before bringing herself into a light embrace around his back. That left the bandicoot to lightly blink before turning back to her.

"No matter what happens, you can tell we're right behind you."

"Yeah", said Nina in a breezy tone near her. "Even though we may not necessarily get along", she started as she gestured at Coco, "we can tell we fight on as a team."

From behind Coco, Nina managed to make her light skip towards Crash's direction, her expression showing just as much hope as the bandicoot had beforehand. She rested her head upon his, being careful not to rub her hair against his.

The others then managed to advance around the front, showing their own relaxed expressions around them as they came around him. As they did so, they looked onto the skies, which gradually turned a deeper orange to be able to match with the world's catastrophic void.

"So what are we going to do about this Kaiser Gemini guy?" Crunch asked the others.

"I say we go after him", growled Bev. "The sooner, the better."

Kazaa showed a light lick upon her lips. "Yeah, who knows what he wanted to do with the sub-machine on top."

Crash's eyes widened as he looked on at the Psychotron structure. Its more twisted variation given the sub-machine has given him a more reflective expression as a whole, his eyes quivering on the spot.

"I'm just concerned if we lose sight of him", Crash sighed from his position.

"Heck, even if we do", started Coco, "I'm sure Kyle will be able to help us out in some form or other."

Coco placed her hand lightly upon her brother's back, which in turn left him to look back at her. Of course, she must have had a lot of optimism for her pelican companion, he thought. He then smiled before bringing himself into a more thoughtful stance.

"Hey, maybe you're right. I haven't spoken with him in a while. I'll see if I can be able to get back in contact with him."

And thus he went towards the window once more, his eyes first focusing upon the Kaiser, heading further and further away from the scene as time went on. And then he looked on towards the view of the island from a light crack in the wall.

Right there, he could only just make out the shape of the rebellion's HQ; the small hut that could mean a lot of big changes if executed just right. He then showed a more determined look before looking on at the others.

"You know what this means - it's time we headed out there!"

And thus, most of the group cheered on as they managed to make their way straight towards the door that led back towards the stairs. They were shown to be just as menacing as ever given the length upon them.

That left them to make their dash straight down towards the bottom – with the exception of Nina whom ended up sliding down the rails while pulling off skateboarder-like poses – on the hope of soon being able to make their way straight to the bottom.

As soon as they reached the bottom, they managed to make their way among the hallways, making their way straight towards the opening around them; once outside, the bright lights around them were easily reflected around their bodies around exposure.

They looked up, and saw the Kaiser making his flight around the mountain structure, mainly among the path that they came from to reach the lair in the first place. That left them to make their run straight towards him.

But only time could tell on whether they would catch up in time. For them, it's shown to be all or nothing.

_-end of part 7-_


	8. If A Feather Must Fall

AUTHOR'S NOTES

What do you know - I actually submitted this on time!

Anyhow, continuing on with part 8 of my Crash fic, it's here that we follow the group on from where we left them - chasing the Kaiser and hoping to bring him down before the world reaches its twisted form... only to rope in a few surprises on the way. Expect some light mush between Cortex and Bev, a further appearance of the CODA airship... and a bit of bad news.

Might as well lightly explain something down the line – Bev managed to mention having a "handicapped sister" to take care of back at her own home. That's actually referencing to her younger sister Martha and her fate in the conclusion for Schoolhouse Rock: Symphony of the Future. Somehow I feel that fic has got a closer connection to this one than any of the others… hm.

Again, thanks for going through this as well as possible reviews down the line. Going back to EcoBlood's comment (heh, she's responded to every single one so far – she must be really dedicated :D), I noticed how upset it can be to end up having a character not in the fic. Mind, as far as future fanfics are concerned, my incoming Jak fic "After the Daystar" will make its arrival sometime in the middle of April, and after that there'll come my next big Ecaros story (which just like the others won't get a formal release on this site) over the Summer. Hopefully you could score some opportunities there, although if anything they could more than likely be cameos.

Anyhow… only two parts left before this story is wrapped up, nyah.

Peace out,

_Rexy_

* * *

The island's red skies were currently swamping all around the scenery, which in turn managed to reflect strongly upon the plants. They were seen glowing with a deep red color all around them as they blew gently within the wind. 

As that happened, the scenario at Meteor Mountain was shown to be more intense. Crash and the others were still seen chasing Kaiser Gemini towards the outer regions of the volcano structure, the gap between them both gradually becoming more intense as time went on.

Eventually, the Kaiser managed to turn a nearby corner, with Crash to follow after him. They then looked on at the scenery ahead of them… only to see nothing more but wasteland scenery right ahead of them.

"I think we've lost him!" Crash exclaimed towards Kazaa's direction.

"Don't panic, Crash. He shouldn't have gone too far. He'll still be around here somewhere."

Kazaa showed a hesitant response as she managed to catch up, before zooming right past Crash, whom was accidentally knocked over by the force of her tail. He then growled at Kazaa, before he started running once more.

After that, Crunch managed to make his run with Coco riding upon his shoulders, with Bev to make her run after them. Right after them came Nina holding onto Cortex's arm in a tight grip, leaving him to show a feeling of pain upon his face.

"Uncle Neo! We have to keep going!"

But the pain around his forearm was too much; that force made him wince that much he ended up struggling to run, never mind keep a straight face. That left him to end up skidding along the ground in a water-skier fashion over time.

It wasn't long until they managed to go around another corner… only to realize that the group faced the top of a steep hillside that managed to lead down towards the main area of the volcano once more. There was no sign of the Kaiser from that angle at all.

"So much for that", Crash sighed under his breath.

Kazaa showed a light grip of her teeth as she looked ahead. "Yeah, something's telling me he's gone hiding somewhere else now. But we'll eventually pummel him down."

Kazaa showed a face filled with optimism as she locked her paws together with a devious expression shining around her. She then started to pace her feet carefully among the ground in a furious pace. While that happened, much of the others were seen dispersing around the region of the mountain, looking around them as time went on.

"You know what this means", blinked Cortex. "Back to the hideout with our findings in our grasp. Right, Bev?"

Bev didn't respond. Instead, she lowered her head towards the ground, her hair almost obscuring her mouth and nose as they were forced down by the planet's gravity. It wasn't long until Cortex managed to notice her gesture.

"Bev, what's wrong?"

"I'm trying to figure out what will happen between us once this battle is over... if we survive."

She then brought her head lightly back up, her eyes lightly flickering over time. She then looked on at Cortex with a gradually more hopeful expression showing upon her, curious over his next words.

He then made a gradual pace towards the edge of the pathway, where a steep hill was seen beneath his feet. There, they saw the island as they were – still currently obscured by elements of pain and darkness.

"The island will be the same as it was before", Cortex said to her with a smile. "You'll see into a happy ending, and the skies will turn blue once more."

"Yeah, but I've still got a handicapped sister to worry about. Do you think it would be fine if we came on over to live with you?"

Cortex's eyes widened upon her saying. Of course, it's been a long while since he knew about much of her relatives, so he ended up showing a curious expression twitching all around his own two eyes.

"Well?" she asked him.

"Bev, you are a very thoughtful figure, but... I myself seem to have family to look into myself."

He then sighed, before looking directly to the left of him, where he saw Nina sitting alone on a nearby rock. She was seen swinging her legs back and forth, in a gentle rhythmic stance, as she looked down towards the island from her viewpoint.

"She may not be much", he started again, "but given the status around this island, she may very well be all I have for the time being."

"That I might understand."

Bev then looked on at Nina for herself… whom in turn started to blink over time. She looked up, before turning to the right of her; as soon as she saw the Black Seagull herself looking into her, she hesitantly turned her back.

She then brought her attention towards Cortex, whom ended up showing a slightly hesitant expression back, his eyes gradually twitching from side to side. That left her to step closer to him, with a light smile showing on her face.

"But it would still be great to keep in touch, I'm sure", she whispered confidently. "Whichever happens out from all this, we won't forget each other."

She then brought one of her hands upon his shoulders, stroking it with a light sympathetic nature around her. That left Cortex to smile back, and from nearby, the feelings were then showcased upon Crash from his position.

"Wow... talk about a close bond...!"

He brought his hands behind his head as he leant against the side of the wall, glad to see a strong form of optimism showing around the group as a whole. But… that was until something in the skies caught Nina's attention.

"Look out!"

Kazaa gasped from her position. "What the-!"

The group then looked up, and right there they managed to see into a black shape making its way right across the sky, zooming past at a furious pace. All that they could do was try to look on at it from a closer angle.

It then made its dive straight down towards the ground, ready to attack the group as they were… only for them all to duck underneath him in time. They looked up, and indeed saw the figure in full formation as he headed back up the path that led to the Stronghold.

"Kaiser Gemini!" Kazaa exclaimed.

"We need to head our way back up there!" shouted Crash. "Quickly!"

And thus they started to make their run all the way back the way they came, hoping to trek along the marble wall in an attempt to make its way closer towards the Kaiser himself. By then, Crash's expression was starting to look tense.

But there… it wasn't long until the Kaiser managed to make his re-appearance on top of one of the rockiest structures upon the mountain. It then managed to start breaking down the rock, and picked up the pieces one by one, filling them with a power surge around them.

"On second thoughts..." Crash gulped. "RUN!"

"We can't cower in front of this thing!" growled Cortex from next to him. "We just need to keep fighting on!"

There, the Kaiser threw the rocks one by one towards the group, whom ended up trying to evade the shots. The painful energy granted by the electricity was easily felt through their bodies as it skimmed past them, with Crunch only being able to fight back by trying to punch the rocks back… only to see them struggle to get higher than the marble wall in elevation. Within the group, Cortex had enough problems trying to dodge the rocks, which in turn were skimming through his hair.

"Uncle Neo!" Nina shouted towards him with panic.

"I'm not giving up yet!"

He then took a hold of his laser pistol and pointed it towards the Kaiser, just as when he was in mid-throw. He tried firing several bullets all at once, only to see that much of which ended up rebounding from him.

All that Cortex could do was show a wide-eyed response as the Kaiser made his next move – picking up the remaining rocks within a cradle position in his arms and making his way straight back up into the sky via his means of flight.

"Crikey, he's juggling a lot here!" Kazaa gasped with a wide-eyed look. "What do you suppose is he trying to do?"

"God knows", said Nina with a quivering tone.

He then hurled the rocks up in a juggle fashion as he went higher and higher, being careful not to make much of them fall as they were. Eventually, he reached the same height as the tallest point on the mountain stronghold, where he then smirked and started juggling the rocks higher and higher.

"Take cover!" Crash commanded.

The Kaiser then managed to leave some of the rocks flying, before allowing his hands to slam them down to the ground in a volleyball player style. One of the first rocks ended up landing upon various trees, singeing them in an instant.

Another few rocks managed to make their slam straight towards the ground, although landing upon the sea this time around; various explosions were seen, shooting various elements of kelp and pebbles above the surface.

He then managed to slam some more rocks nearby, although aiming towards a small cliff-like area in the middle where they ended up drilling holes through it before that in turn collapsed into rubble.

And then it wasn't long until more boulders started to make their way around numerous places all around the clearing, which in turn managed to provide several mini-earthquakes upon landing. That left most of the girls to show screams upon the rocks' landings.

The last rock then managed to make its way within the air, and it wasn't long until the Kaiser slammed it down towards the surface. That one showed an orange trail as it got closer and closer towards the ground… or more precisely, the roof of the rebellion HQ. Upon contact, a giant explosion was shown around the scene, which in turn managed to blind the eyes of the group from nearby.

"The hideout!" Crash screamed from his place.

"Oh no!" cried Kazaa. "Kyle!"

The explosion then faded out, and it wasn't long until the Kaiser managed to fly his way back within the inner regions of the mountain, with a sinister laugh showing around his facial expression. All that Crash could do was show an angered growl back at him, before trying to run towards him… only to have Crunch take a hold around his arm.

"I think we need to head back as soon as we can!" Crunch frowned from his position. "Panic about Kaiser Gemini later."

"Kyle..." Nina whispered in a light tone. "Please tell me you're okay...!"

Nina's face then turned into a panicked one as she managed to make her way down the slope herself, with the others to follow – Crash being an exception as he was being dragged by Crunch via the arm, and Cortex being another as he stayed behind and focused his angered expression straight on towards the mountainous structures behind him.

"Kaiser, if nothing good comes out from this, then I won't forgive you for what you've done!"

He then shook his fist towards the mountainous structure as he heard his voice echo right across the plains, as well as eventually escaping out towards the island's void. His teeth then started to grit tightly at the grasp.

But… his anger soon managed to turn into sadness, as he managed to look straight towards the ruins of the rebellion HQ. He then sighed, his hair steadily drooping down to fit with his facial expressions at the time.

And that left him to run as far as he can, trying to catch up with the others without trying to trip up at the same time. Various dust trails were left via his panicked footsteps as he managed to come closer and closer towards the ruined hideout.

* * *

By the time the group reached the hideout itself, it was totally covered in flames, which in turn has managed to settle for an unsettling term of mood throughout. That has managed to leave some upsetting expressions upon the group as a whole. 

Several traversing through various embers left them to be able to come to an area of the wreckage that held more rubble than anywhere else, with the content of ash being sent into the air at an uncontrollable high.

Within the group, Coco focused her attention straight over towards a nearby area that was shown to be more spacious than the others – a hole in the ground, and a wooden flight of stairs, ruined by the explosion. She then gasped on at the sight of it.

"I'll go check on the CODA. You just see if Kyle's okay. Sorry if it had to come to this, Crash."

Coco, with a light frown, then started to make her run towards the stairs herself and started climbing her way into the underground areas. That left Crash to show a curious expression as she went further and further below ground level.

But… that was before a rustling sound from nearby diverted his attention. He then went over towards a pile of shuffling planks, leaving him to throw them off one by one, before bringing out a familiar winged hand into view.

"Kyle!"

He then brought out more planks off his body, which eventually was left to expose Kyle's body in full – a ruined body filled with torn feathers, deep bruises around his body, various deep bloodstains and crippled limb positions.

He was seen coughing weakly from his position, struggling to gain his breath from his position. That in turn left the group to pull him out from the wreckage, and out into the open; that in turn left the pelican to smile lightly.

"Crash...!" he gasped weakly from his position. "I'm glad you're here."

He then tried to speak again, but… he gave out several coughs in a row, leaving him to struggle under his position. Two gasps for breath then followed on, which in turn left Crash to crouch down and stroke his head lightly.

"You can tell we faced a strong fight out there, through the smoothest times and the toughest."

"Hang in there, Kyle!" Crash shouted with determination. "We'll sort you out!"

Crash went within his own backpack in trying to uncover something within there, but… there was nothing within it. He then searched further upon search for any form of treatment or first aid, but…

"Leave it", Kyle whispered slowly.

Kyle weakly placed up one of his hands, leaving Crash to show a curious expression upon his gesture. That in turn left him to lower his hand to his chest once more, his expression gradually getting weaker over time.

"I've had enough of an adventure helping you guys go far enough to help us take out this menace. And for that, I am thankful for you."

He provided a light smile towards Crash, whom in turn started to show a much more hesitant facial expression as he tried his best to bring Kyle into his arms and back onto both feet once more.

While that happened, Kyle brought his expression straight towards Cortex, whom ended up showing a light eye twitch at the sight of his response. The link between them remained there as time went on.

"That goes for you too, Cortex", he then whispered with a light gasp. "You may have faced some vicious times in the past few years, but you've pulled through to help make this island for the better."

"Kyle, please, what's happening to you?" Cortex asked him with a worried tone.

Cortex then made his dash towards Kyle himself, his eyes also twitching with wonder and panic at the same time. There, he took a hold of him from the other side, looking onto the pelican's weakened appearance from that angle.

"The skies are calling me", wheezed Kyle. "But I have one last request for you to follow. Promise me that you will use the CODA to fight back against the Gemini."

Cortex thought on about the CODA upon mention; the vessel that Kyle ended up finding upon his journeys around the island. Of all times, this had to be the perfect time to be able to use it, he thought to himself.

"It has been in my possession for most of my time as a part of this rebellion", he said while struggling to gain his breath, "and now I feel that it would be in the hands of a true technical mind."

The pelican then started to gasp much more weakly, leaving Crash to show a more hesitant expression. He then released his grip away from Cortex, whom showed a more upsetting look as Crash ended up taking a firm hold upon him, gradually crouching upon the ground as he did so.

"Kyle!"

"Tell the rest of the Rebellion, that I respected them all. Restore the island... to its... former... glory..."

Right upon those words, his body then drooped as a result, gently within Crash's arms. His eyes were then sealed closed gradually over time, and at the same time… his breathing came to a stop. It was there that Crash saw that Kyle-Jovi, one of the main commanders of the rebellion, has died.

He then ended up bringing his body steadily upon the ground, a light tear starting to show upon his eye. He at least then tried to bring his ear towards his chest, still oblivious to the pain granted around the pelican.

"Kyle..." Crash paused, stuck for words. "Kyle, no!"

"Crash, I'm sorry, but there's nothing we could do."

Kazaa then approached Crash gently, placing one of her paws upon his shoulder. He then turned straight towards her, a light tear starting to come down his face, with a few others almost being set to follow.

That left the bandicoot to come within her arms, placing himself into a light embrace around her body and resting his head upon her shoulders with a pace of sadness showing all around his face.

"The Gemini..." Crash started to growl with mixed emotions of sadness and anger. "What have they done?"

Kazaa then continued to reassure him by stroking him gently, but… it wasn't long until Crash managed to break free from her grasp, and take a hold of a nearby plank of wood, snapping it in half in an instant.

"It's all my fault for being at the wrong place at the wrong time!" he continued to brawl. "If we were here, and if we knew about the meteors, we could have escaped this place in one piece!"

"Relax, Crash", said Crunch in a compassionate tone. "It's not all your fault."

Crash then proceeded in taking one half of the broken plank and tried to strike it towards Crunch's stomach with rage, but that was before the brown bandicoot took a hold of it just before it could make contact with his body.

"No matter what happened to this rebellion group", Crunch started, "you can tell that Kyle would be proud of our actions, no matter where he may end up seeing us."

Crash then released the grip around the plank, before showing a more upsetting expression back at him. There, the brown bandicoot placed a hand around his head, in an aid to calm him down… but the orange bandicoot didn't show much thought back.

"I'm still not convinced."

He brought his attention back towards the surrounding wreckage all around him, ash continuing to settle within the air, some of the flames gradually starting to die down, and the torn areas of Kyle's clothes blowing within the wind.

"From what I've seen, Squadron Gemini isn't going to get away with this one!" Crash gritted his teeth as he turned back towards the others from his restricted position. "Kyle was my friend - no, OUR friend, all the way through to the end! And look what kind of aid we had from him in return!"

Crash then forced himself away from Crunch, and pointed up towards the two taller points of the island – the original cliff-side stronghold they settled in first, shown as nothing more than a pile of metallic rubble, and Meteor Mountain and its current energetic white light source around it.

"And for that purpose, we won't let him down as we stop at nothing to eliminate this menace. For the Rebellion, for Kyle, for the world..."

Crash's expression then turned into a determined smile as he started to make a steady walk towards the underground garage. As soon as his feet were placed upon the first step, the others then gradually followed him over.

That left Crunch bringing Kyle's body underneath a light wooden shelter, one that still remained standing in spite of the rubble. By then, a light rain shower was seen gradually lowering the flames down to nothingness, leaving a few traces of smoke among the ground.

As soon as he was laid there to rest, Crunch then made his continuation towards the underground garage, ready to follow their late pelican comrade's wishes.

* * *

The stairway that lead deep within the underground garage was shown to be lengthy as well as darkened for their own right. Most of the group, although still showing grim expressions, was shown to be heading down at a steady pace around them. 

They soon reached the bottom, and made their way through the door that separated them from the garage. Right there was a large metallic room, with a giant airship that nestled its way inside the building.

Its purple structures, as well as its majestic fins, were shown to grant a lot of beauty towards the scene itself. Crash then managed to take a step closer, looking closer and closer towards the ship's broad structure.

"So this must be the CODA", he lightly spoke to himself.

"Crash!"

Coco's voice managed to come through his ears, leaving him to look around the bottom of the ship for her. Eventually, he saw her crouching down near one of the wheels, painting it a bright passion pink color. He then looked at the rest of the wheels, and saw them all painted the same color.

"What exactly are you doing to the wheels?" Crash exclaimed as he pointed at Coco.

"Airship maintenance?" she asked with a chuckle. "Anyway, I take you guys are ready to use this thing?"

Crash gave off a light nod, as well as a faint smile showing upon his mouth at the time. He then walked his way steadily towards her, a confident expression being revealed. Cortex was then seen following him, all until he ended up coming towards a panel of the ship that had the CODA's initials etched onto it. The darkness obscured it at first, but that was until Nina came in and turned on various lights that the acronym was defined in full.

"'Cortex Organization Demolition Aircraft'..."

Cortex's eyes widened right at the sight of it. He then looked right around it – the familiar purple colors brought among the paint work, alongside the fin structure, have worked in granting a broad structure all around it.

Several flashbacks then came to his mind, all relating to his earlier encounters with Crash several years prior to the event. The same airship was used for one of their first climatic battles… eventually the vision was blanked out, leaving him to gasp.

"That was my old airship!"

"It is?" Coco gasped at his shout. "If that's the case… exactly how did Kyle end up with it in his grasp?"

Coco then looked on at the ship with curious eyes, curious over Kyle's findings as a whole. She then turned towards the others, but… the first thing she saw was Crash with his head hung low and a frown showing on his face.

"Crash, what's wrong?"

Kazaa went towards his side just as when he was about to speak. "I'll explain once I get inside."

Kazaa then took a light grasp upon the hand of Coco, whom in turn showed a face of curiosity straight back towards her. That left them to walk together as they managed to make their way inside the main component of the ship.

They made their way into a small room at the back, while at the same time the others then managed to settle around the cockpit. Various controls were seen to operate all around them as a whole; levers, buttons and some light bells were seen attached towards the control panel.

"You see Coco, we faced a rough accident out there at..." said Kazaa's voice from next door.

"Uncle Neo", Nina asked Cortex roughly at the same time, "are we ready to use this thing?"

"We are indeed set to be able to get in there."

He then gave off a vicious laugh as he managed to take a hold on a nearby lever, ready to operate the machine… only to have a light puff of smoke to erupt from a small pipe in front of him, covering him in light traces of oil.

He then lightly growled at the procedure, before pulling another lever, which in turn ended up starting to operate the engines that ran the ship. He gave off a more thoughtful smirk this time around – a determined smirk.

"To the top of Meteor Mountain!"

"Are you prepared to go in there?" Crash said deviously. "Without flinching this time?"

"Not this time. Because as far as I have seen, no one upsets the residents of the island and gets away with it!"

He then waved his fists with anger at Crash's response, a firm grip easily showing upon his teeth. But… it wasn't long until he gradually formed a sly expression as he leaned towards Nina's direction.

"As a matter of fact Nina, that's MY job."

Her eyes widened at his response, before she ended up providing a giggle from her mouth. As that happened, Cortex brought himself into triggering several more switches and pressing more buttons, making the engine operation gradually louder with every option activated.

"Besides, it's time we delivered enough payback for what he did to Kyle-Jovi."

Crash then smiled from his position. "You're on!"

With a smile showing on his face, Cortex managed to flip several switches upon the main control panel, before taking a hold of the main control stick for himself. He then looked back at Nina, whom managed to make a climb towards the ceiling, hanging tightly upon the bars like a monkey on a tree branch.

She then pressed a small red button to open a sunroof, before climbing right onto the roof of the building herself. There, she picked up a small bolt and threw another rock towards a control panel right at the other side of the underground garage.

It struck a lever, which in turn opened up the garage's roof, causing a few mounds of soil to end up making their fall into the building as it opened up. She then climbed back in, and gave the thumbs up towards her uncle, whom gave off a devious smile back. But suddenly…

"Coco, calm down, I'm sorry if it all had to end this way..."

Kazaa's reassuring voice from near the back of the ship managed to catch the group's attention, where it was seen that the door that lead into there was suddenly slammed open, the sound echoing upon their ears.

Right there, she was thrown straight out of the room, landing hard upon her back upon landing. The door was then slammed shut, leaving an echo to form its way around the room. Her eyes then widened with fear as she saw that event happen.

She gave out a light frown, severely understanding Coco's distress. It was realized that Coco had a close bond with Kyle himself, given the amount of technical work that occurred between the pair of them.

It was within their actions in the rebellion that they knew much about her distress, and those thoughts were continued on as the ship gradually made its lift out from the garage, and out towards the deep orange skies that surrounded the island.

As far as they knew, the rebellion has been heavily inflicted with pain and sorrow, but they knew that they had to fight on.

* * *

It wasn't long until the aircraft managed to make its way straight over towards the outer areas of Meteor Mountain once more. It was there that it managed to advance around towards a side to the right, the group thus absorbing the details of its structure from that angle. 

There, they managed to notice something on top of the Kaiser's stronghold – a bright white strobe light that managed to glow in a star-like fashion, almost blinding the entire scenery all around them.

Crash managed to squint his eyes at the sight of it, trying to focus much closer towards the light in itself, his eyes gradually twitching further over time. There, a black shape was seen moving among the light itself.

"There goes the Kaiser! Let's get in there and finish him off!"

Crash pointed on at the blurry shape, leaving Cortex to turn the ship so that it was heading straight towards him. There, the vision of the eerie light was still brought across his own viewpoint, leaving him to twitch an eye at the sight of it as well as trying his best to block the intensity with one of his forearms.

"What is that strange light coming from out of there?" asked Cortex from his main position.

"I don't know", Crunch replied in a slightly uneasy tone, "but we're not sticking around for too long!"

They looked further towards the light – or at least tried – and within there, the essence soon managed to make out a light bridge towards another side of the mountain structure, which in turn formed a staircase towards a point in the sky obscured by thicker clouds.

The Kaiser then managed to make his run across the bridge, before making its way inside the portion of the mountainside in an instant. That left Crash to point straight on at that part of the volcano, with a sneer showing on his face.

"Okay, let's get inside this thing!"

And with a determined look, Cortex took a tighter grip upon the control stick and sent the ship straight towards the mountainous area. They soon managed to get close, being able to notice the Kaiser zooming up a pathway as time went on.

The ship then managed to settle inside a small alcove within the structure, leaving the group to make their way out as soon as they can. That left them all to start making their way up the darker caverns, hoping to catch up with the Kaiser.

"I don't know about you", Bev started speaking towards Cortex's direction, "but it looks creepy in here."

"Be brave, Bev. We need to stay strong."

Bev showed a twitch upon her own eyes as she thought of Cortex's words strongly. That left her to keep walking while at the same time looking from left to right at the same time – as time went on, the caverns got darker… and in some paces, wetter.

Nina ended up with a similar facial expression as she managed to run near the back of the group… but only to be disturbed by a rustling noise behind her. She came to a stop, and looked behind her… only to see a community of bats fly straight towards her.

"Yaiee! I'm not a pedestal for you to sit on!"

She then brought her hands above her head, trying to stop the bats from trying to fly towards her direction. That continued as she made her run straight back towards the group over time, her face showing deep panic.

As soon as she went back to the others… she saw them standing outside a door. That one in itself had a door made of forced light that separated the group from the rest of the caverns, which left the group to end up showing widened expressions at.

"Great, just great", she whispered with a sarcastic growl.

"Something's telling me we'll struggle to get any further than here", sighed Cortex with a frown. "Any other way around to reach this monstrosity?"

"Perhaps we can help."

Cortex's eyes widened. "Who said that?"

Cortex then looked right behind him, and it was there that he ended up seeing four other shadows make their way from further up the canyon. Standing there indeed were N. Gin, Brio, Dingodile and Tropy, all in a line.

"Tropy!" Crash exclaimed right at him.

"Oh no..." Coco sighed. "Who brought them here?"

"Listen, shelia", growled Dingodile with his menacing tone. "We may be operatin' on two sides o' the fence here, but we're still part o' the same rebellion. I don't understand why I had to work with a freak like you, but it had to be done!"

"Dingo, just relax", Tropy sighed back at him. "We don't have long before this planet's fate is decided. Besides, we'll be able to take out the door and advance further as a team."

"You'd really do that?"

Cortex showed hope towards the team themselves, as they ended up showing curious nods back towards them. Within the group, N. Gin was seen excitedly hopping up and down on the spot, a wicked smirk showing upon his lips.

"Then once that's over, we'll be able to steal their riches and shell out on a casino in Sydney!"

"Always you and the r-r-r-riches, Gin", Brio muttered with a growl. "Can't you think for the present?"

Brio then lightly nudged N. Gin, whom left him to grit his teeth back towards his scientist partner. But… while that happened, Tropy drew out his pitchfork and showed determination towards the reinforced door.

"Stand back, because this will hold a wide blast!"

He then allowed a bright charge of white light to show around his pitchfork, gradually increasing in size over the period of time that followed. The light then became that strong it started to blind much of the group around it.

He then triggered the light forward, and it was there that the door was brought down to nothing, leaving a clear path to follow onwards. That left Cortex to show a determined face as he managed to make a run beyond it.

"Let's go in there! Kaiser, be prepared to be finished off!"

As soon as he vanished, Nina then made her follow up forward, with Coco, Kazaa and Bev to come together, Crunch to follow and most of the others to follow in an instant, with various footsteps being left behind within the instant.

That left Tropy behind, showing a confident expression at his pitchfork and the intense power that was placed around it. He gave out a light smile as he started to make a proud walk towards the broken barrier, only to see Crash standing there with a puppy-eyed expression around him.

"No, Crash, you can't have my pitchfork", Tropy leered back. "It may look cool to you, but you saw that it takes a long time to charge."

He then managed to make his walk past Crash, whom can only just show a light frown at the sight of Tropy's attitude. That left him to gently sigh to himself as he made his walk beyond the barrier.

He went round a nearby corner, and it was there that he managed to see the end of the cavern – the open was shown once more, and a light bridge was being shown towards a destination within the skies that was located directly above the Kaiser's main stronghold.

And thus, Crash made his run along the bridge, a thoughtful expression showing between his eyes. Tropy, however, maintained his serious look as he gradually made his pace along the bridge himself.

And it was there that they both realized that the final climax would be able to make its roll right across the island. As far as they knew, Squadron Gemini has ruined their island home and is ready to do the same to the rest of the world, unless they stop them first.

But one question remains – how can the Gemini already know them, when they don't know the Gemini back? An endless sea of possibility managed to swim through Crash's mind, as he made his way closer to the end of the bridge, where the decisive counter will take place.

_end of part 8_


	9. Hunted by a Past Antagonist

AUTHOR NOTES

Ow. Been meaning to put it up yesterday, but you know me - I hate Tuesdays.

Anyhow, this is it - the final battle! You know what this means - the ultimate climax for the fate of the planet as we know it. This reveals much of the secrets behind the Gemini's forming, as well as the strength behind their intensions.  
I had so much fun writing this part out I never even backed it up, and was at risk of losing it a few days ago due to a hardware crash. Phew...?

Going through the pair of reviews I received from the past two days… regular EcoBlood. Glad to see you're still enjoying it. Mind, because of various time constraints (the end of the academic year is getting closer) I have had thoughts on wanting to cut down the storyline for After the Daystar, although still keeping the key components upon it. Damn. I hate essays. Hopefully I should find time to check out Crossfire, so be prepared…

And Talia the Hedgehog. Another fan of what I applied with Nina's personality – glad to see you enjoyed it so far. See, what I did with Nina's personality is solid proof that no evil is absolute evil. And as much as some people want to express it, the N-Team are not monsters. Heh.

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this new part! The finale will hopefully come by Sunday.

Peace out,

_Rexy_

* * *

The light bridge that connected the platform right above the Kaiser's key stronghold was shown to be a steep one - several hundred steps at a time that eventually managed to lead its way directly to the top. 

In due time, Crash managed to get there, with much of the others making their following near him. He helped them onto the platform one by one; all fitting within a space that managed to resemble a 100-metre-edge checkers board.

The sound of crumbling then came from behind him; he looked in that direction, and saw the stairs folding away one by one, forming nothing more than a slide to the bottom, and no way to return back up. That left Crash to grit his teeth with a smirk as he came closer to the Kaiser, standing at the other side of the platform.

"Okay Kaiser, you've chased us around long enough", growled the orange bandicoot. "Now tell us what you truly want with this world!

"What makes you think I'd do such a thing? I wasn't one for revealing much of my secrets in the past; never did much of the same thing in the present."

The vicious tone left Crash to sigh as he continued to look closer on at the Kaiser with a confusing expression upon his face. He then managed to step forward, his eyes widening and his fists clutching, showing his complex expressions.

"This is getting out of hand", Crash sighed. "I mean, how do you know us?"

"There's only one way to find out - ask my accomplice."

The Kaiser then made his step towards the right, and right there he saw another short shadow in front of him - the same one that has followed him right across the Squadron Gemini's specific purpose.

Eventually, a spotlight was shown on him, revealing the figure in its entirety - a short, egg-like figure with purple legs, a silver container-like body, menacing green eyes, and two metallic arms - one covered with gold and showing a normal arm at the end, and the other showing itself to be a menacing silver one covered with spikes and a chained ball at the end.

"N-Trance?" the group exclaimed in unison.

"That's right. I never thought I'd see the dimensions get so twisted. In fact, even the 10th Dimension isn't as cracked up as it was."

Crash blinked. "What do you mean?"

"I saw at that part of the void that an evil version of yourself ate up the Evil Twins, for the sole purpose of him being hungry", he smirked upon speaking. "Do you remember a figure like that?"

Cortex showed a widened eyed response as he thought carefully about the highlights of his previous exhibition around Twinsanity Island. And there, the memories of a sinister red bandicoot with claws came into his mind.

"Evil... Crash?"

"And just as the dimension wanted to imply", continued N-Trance, "we have cued in a gruesome transformation. Kaiser Gemini IS Evil Crash and the Evil Twins rolled into one sole body!"

Right at the response, the Kaiser brought himself into a sinister laugh. That left the group to look on at the figure once more - of course, with the red fur and the bold patch upon his head, let alone the short beak placed upon him, it just had to come into place.

Most of the group were then left to look up with fear towards the creature's eyes, although Coco ended up starting to shake her legs right at the sight of the figure. She then brought herself into a collapsing motion, leaving Kazaa to catch her.

"I think... I think I'm going to faint...!" she whispered faintly to Kazaa.

"Coco!"

"Now you see why we wanted to get back at you", N-Trance then spoke with a sneer. "Mess around with the lives of twisted dimensions, and in return we'll mess around with yours."

"That's not how the system works!"

Bev growled on towards Trance from her position, before she in turn stepped forward and showed a menacing leer towards the two. She gave out a sigh, before clicking her hands in tension.

"From what I heard it was the Twins' fault for coming to this island in the first place and terrorising the people around it."

"I still think it 's mine for messing around with them in the first place", mumbled Cortex in the background.

"It's not that", she said in a grittier tone. "It's just a damn coincidence. Just relax - I'm sure that some way we're going to get around it."

Her expression soon turned from anger to pure confidence, leaving her to look on at the others with a determined expression around her. That in turn was soon reflected towards the rest of the group, knowing that they would fight bravely against them.

At the same time, both Trance and the Kaiser made their approach right towards the middle of the platform, looking up towards the twisted twilight skies above them. They then gestured their hands right up towards the sky as that happened.

"Well whatever happens, it's too late now!" cried the Kaiser. "The planet's transformation is almost complete! Watch this planet suffer under our PLAGUE!"

"No, don't even think about it!"

Within the group, Nina showed a light smirk upon her face as she came forward, her hands clapping lightly within her own gesture. Her eyes then started to turn red with rage as she was set to keep advancing.

She then took further steps forward, leaving a long shadow to trail behind her back as she stepped further away from the strobe lights that surrounded the platform. As that happened, Cortex showed fear as he managed to make her run towards her, taking a hold upon her by the arm.

"NINA!"

"I can handle it, trust me", she sighed back.

She then shrugged her arm away from his grasp, leaving his grip to eventually release around her. That in turn left him to show a half-curious half-indecisive expression as he made a backwards-tiptoe motion back towards the others.

As soon as Nina ended up at halfway across towards her opponents, she came to a light stop, her steel trap based hands easily gripping tightly around their grasp. She gave out a shifty expression as she focused hard towards her opponents.

"Well if you want a fight to the death, you're getting it!" Trance exclaimed towards her. "Don't expect it to be pretty!"

Nina was left to growl on at his direction, her buckteeth gritting tightly against her lower lip at that moment in time. By that time, a cooler gale wind managed to blow through her clothes, reflecting upon her anger. But…

"I'll be by your side", smiled Bev as she came to one side of her.

"Same here", Kazaa mimicked as she went to the right. "We can do this together!"

She looked to her left, and saw Bev standing by her side with a confident expression. She then looked to the right and saw Kazaa showing the same emotion. There, all three girls looked ahead, showing determination all around them.

"Let's go!" Nina commanded the team.

And thus, they then managed to make their run straight towards Trance and the Kaiser, whom both showed sinister expressions around them as they came closer. But… it wasn't long until the Kaiser then clapped his hand, causing a bright strobe light to shine above them.

That caused several blurred shapes to make their way straight onto the surface, all of which to end up forming themselves as Gemini soldiers. They aimed their guns straight towards the three girls, whom all jumped out of the way gracefully upon attack.

Nina then growled at them from her position. "Take this, freak!"

Upon jumping up, Nina forced her hands straight upon the soldiers, whom ended up wincing upon pinch. She then ended up with enough courage to throw some of which off the platform she was on, before reclaiming the steel traps back within her own hands.

At the same time, Bev and Kazaa used their own bare hands to force their way through more Gemini soldiers of their own, showing their own confident expressions as time continued. In the background, Cortex seemed to show a light blink of hesitance however.

"Oh great, what are we meant to do as she gets tortured out there?"

"We can help out", nodded Crash. "Simple as that."

With a light smile upon his face, Crash managed to make his way back towards the light bridge they came from. Once there, he took a hold of Coco's hands, and they both slid down the non-climbable ramp together.

"Crash! Coco!" Cortex cried out towards them. "Where are you two going?"

"Don't panic too much", smiled Crunch from nearby. "They'll think of something."

Cortex showed a light blink of hesitance upon Crunch's response, leaving him to look up at the brown bandicoot with a light twitch upon his own eyes. All that he managed to show back was a light smirk upon his own mouth.

That in turn left them to look straight back on at the fight, where the numbers for the Squadron Gemini soldiers were starting to die down in an instant. And it was there that they knew that fate was steadily coming on cue.

Back with Bev, she managed to continue to bring her way straight towards the others with a light grit upon her teeth. As soon as she forced her way through those particular soldiers, she managed to bring her focus straight towards the Kaiser.

"Let's see how you like them apples!"

That in turn left her to make a keen jump straight towards his direction, performing a flying kick within the air. It soon managed to strike the Kaiser's chest… although that left her to instantly rebound from there.

She then landed firmly onto both feet, ready to attack the Gemini leader once more, although… he himself made a further attack and swiped his claw-like hands straight towards her. That left her to scream right at the attack.

Upon the first attack she ducked under the hand… but on the second, she was brought into a tight grasp around her stomach. That left her to be picked up into the air, struggling to bring herself free from her position.

"Ergh, I need help - I'm stuck in a knot here!"

"I'm coming, Bev!"

From nearby, Kazaa made a keen run towards the group, her tail instantly twitching over time as she managed to bring herself into an all-fours run. As she managed to come closer towards the Gemini, her expression showed a more confident look around her.

As soon as she was a few feet away from the Kaiser, she made a leap into the air, somersaulting like a raccoon within the air. As she was about to head down towards ground level, she brought out her claws from her own hands.

"Take this!"

In an instant, she brought her claws into a scratch around his face, leaving him to wince at the scratch as well as releasing his grip from his hands. That left Bev to fall towards the ground, landing stomach first.

She soon brought her head up, steadily bringing herself onto two feet as she managed to do so. As that happened, Nina and Kazaa managed to make their way around the monster and started to double team against it.

"Hahah, looks like you're meddled with!" Kazaa sneered on at him.

Nina: Let's see if we can keep going like this!

It wasn't long until their attacks soon caused the Kaiser to make its jump out of the way, his claws starting to glow within the eerie strobe light. That left him to make a further attack towards the pair, separating the girls upon landing his fists upon the floor.

Kazaa was left to roll her way back the way she came, although upon stop she looked on upon Nina, whom was then seen trying to fight alone from her position. But… at the same time, she was double-teamed by Kaiser and N-Trance.

"Oh crud..."

At that moment in time, N-Trance brought out his replacement arm and used it to form a powerful blue electric surge around it. That in turn left several sparks to show upon the sky as time managed to emerge on.

He then aimed his fist forward, causing a surge of electric energy to start chasing her. That left her to make her run away from it, trying to roll and make the force evade her at the same time… but it didn't work.

Eventually, the energy managed to catch up with her and surround her in an instant, leaving her to scream as she was forced to slow down, a bubble starting to envelop around her body all too suddenly.

"NINA!" Cortex cried out towards her.

"Hahahah!"

At that point, Trance started to smirk viciously as he looked on at Cortex's expression at first, and then back towards Nina's bubble prison. By then, a bright blue electric field was starting to show around it.

Every few seconds, a pulse from inside the shield managed to go through her flesh, leaving her to wince as time went on. Eventually, she started to struggle and collapse onto her knees, showing a deep frown of pain on her mouth.

"I doubt she'd get free from this grasp!" Trance smirked as he looked on at her. "She'll suffocate for all her might here!"

Her pain was easily shown upon Cortex's eyes, whom could only just look on with anger and sadness at the same time. No one upsets my niece and gets away with it, he thought quietly to himself.

"We need to bring her down!" Bev shouted with a growl in her throat.

"Oh great", Cortex frowned. "How are we going to do that?"

Cortex showed a lot of panic as the pain upon his niece continued. That left him to show a light frown as time managed to advance further… but it wasn't too long until he noted Tropy coming near him.

"Trust your instincts - I'm sure we can bring her out of this mess!"

Cortex gave out a light blink and brought his attention towards Tropy's attention, whom in turn showed a confident expression. At the same time, he clicked his fingers, and caused several white blurs to show upon the platform.

"What the-!" Cortex froze mid-speech.

The white shapes started to give out a more powerful blur over time, before giving out a bright flash around him. That in turn left the remainder of the group to focus in on the figures in all their entirety.

And there they stood, confused but understanding of the situation - Tiny, Pinstripe, Ripper Roo, both of the Komodo Brothers, and Polar and Pura. That left Cortex to show a gradual and more confident expression as time advanced on.

He then looked in the other direction, and saw that Dingodile, N. Gin and Brio were seen with deep smirks back onto their own faces, which in turn left Cortex to look on ahead of him with a smile upon his face.

"If that's the case, let's see if we can fight on!"

At that call, Cortex brought out his gun and made a steady approach towards the others, a sinister expression showing upon his face. While that happened, the others made his following, showing their own menacing pacing upon the ground at the same time.

There, the Kaiser made his advancement with Trance alongside him, and that left half of the remaining Squadron soldiers to make their way around them, the other half left to block Nina during that moment in time.

As that happened, they soon managed to come various feet within one another's grasp, leaving Tropy to point his tuning fork within the air with a confident expression upon his face. He then pointed it forward, ready to command.

"Tiny, launch the rocks!"

He gestured towards Tiny, whom was seen walking behind him and carving out several round rocks from the light platform's ground. He was left to juggle them with a precise expression all around him, before throwing them one by one towards his opponents.

"Hey, cut that out!" Trance screamed out.

"D-d-did someone say 'cut'?"

Upon that call, Brio brought out another potion and drunk the contents, leaving him to wince lightly before taking hiding behind Tiny's developing rock pile. That left the others to show curiousness, wondering upon Brio's tactics.

Then, he managed to emerge from behind the rock in his giant monster form, his fists pounding greatly among the ground with rage. He started to make his approach towards the Squadron soldiers, using his own hand to easily scratch his opponents.

As he was seen making his further approach towards the Gemini, Cortex managed to make his following alongside him… only to end up with an irrational force jumping right on top of him at that moment in time.

"Ripper Roo! What are you doing - I'm not your opponent!"

Cortex looked upon his shoulder, and indeed, he saw Ripper Roo chewing onto his hair at that moment in time. That left him to wince before the pair were involved into a light roller brawl across the ground.

Roo's grip was soon fastened around Cortex, his paranoid eyes continuing to shape and provide an insane gesture around his face. That in turn left the scientist to clutch his fists before spacing his limbs out.

"YEEEAARGH!"

The force sent the blue kangaroo hopping off his body, at long last. He then sighed from his position, looking around in various different directions; there, more of the Squadron soldiers were coming around him.

That left him to smirk as he took a hold upon his laser once more. He aimed towards one and shot various bullets towards it, bringing it down in an instant. He then did the same to another closer opponent.

"Take this!"

He then smirked as he started to make his run right across the scene, shooting his laser whenever he can and bringing down more and more of the Gemini. Much of which were starting to fall by the dozen by that point.

Eventually, he started to make his dash towards Trance and the Kaiser, a face filled with determination showing as he came closer. He then pulled the trigger… but nothing seemed to come out. That left him to panic as he saw the laser's fuel tank.

"Out of ammo! AAARGH!"

"I'll help you, myte!"

In the background, Dingodile made his shunt against various other opponents, using his flamethrower to attack his opponents - and occasionally skid across the ground in a hover skater style - before making his way towards the scientist.

Once there he brought his hands towards the flamethrower capsule and unhooked something from the side of the tank - a smaller tank. He tossed it towards Cortex's direction, whom then looked confused seeing how it was empty.

"Incoming!"

He gave out a light blink as he looked behind him, seeing N. Gin make his run across the ground and using another laser to shoot the Gemini. That left some of which to not end up knocked down, but starting to dissolve into nothing.

By the time he reached Cortex, he opened up his fuel cartridge and emptied half the contents into the new tank. He showed a light smile as he then connected it underneath his own laser's nose.

"Phew, thanks for the help guys - I appreciate-"

"No time to speak", shouted Bev. "We need to finish them off! Get ready to shoot!"

"Shoot?"

Cortex blinked lightly as he looked straight on towards the pistol once more. He then looked up, and saw more Gemini soldiers - with Trance and the Kaiser at the back - ready to attack further from their position.

By then, much of them were seen already surrounding the group, leaving them to show surprised expressions as the chances of a way out was minimal without fighting their way out from their position.

"If that's what you're intending..." Cortex whispered.

He looked to his left, and then to his right. Then he brought his attention behind him, the distance between him and the platform's edge becoming shorter and shorter. And then, he turned forward, a smirk showing on his face.

He aimed his pistol straight on towards the soldiers, and pulled the trigger as far as he could go. In an instant, a white energy bullet made its zoom across the scene, making its way right past the soldiers and leaving them to show shock as they quickly stepped away from it.

"Nina!" Cortex cried out with a high tone. "I'm coming for you!"

With a confident look, Cortex managed to make his zoom right towards Nina and her bubble, trying his best to evade the Gemini's attacks as he came closer towards them. His shaken face still didn't reflect the pace he soon managed to leave behind.

He dodged under several opponents' attacks - although there were a few instances when some scratches were left to lightly come down his lab coat - and yet was still confident enough to fight back with his laser in mid-run.

Several shots escaped from his weapon, leaving them to strike his opponents before they quickly dissolved into nothing. It was through those general motions that Cortex gradually started to pick up confidence upon his face.

Over time, he managed to find his way out from the Gemini cluster, leaving him just mere footsteps away from Nina and the bubble imprisoning her. The electric energy was leaving her to show herself in a faint-like motion inside it.

He looked back on at the bubble with a growl upon his face. And then, he pushed his weapon up high, ready to make another move towards her. By then, the sparks were reflecting strongly towards his face.

"NINA!"

He brought himself into a paced run across the platform, his shadow getting shorter and shorter as he made his way towards the light that shone around the bubble. The sound of the electric sparks also got to him, making him slightly wince upon said motion.

Upon halfway through, he managed to make a light skip straight into the air, aiming his gun straight towards the bubble. He then pulled the trigger and allowed various shots to make their escape from the nose of the laser.

They made their way towards the bubble, where some of which exploded into white sparks upon contact. He growled, and thus continued to make his shoot towards them. There, some of which ended up making their strike upon the surface once more.

Several more shots later, and the bubble then started to change color to a grayscaled variation. The electric sparks then started to decrease around Nina's body, leaving her to lift her head up with curiosity at the time.

And upon the final few shots, the bubble was then shattered open, leaving her to make her way out from her imprisonment and landing like a rag doll upon the floor. Upon that motion, Cortex made his run towards her, his eyes looking hopeful.

"Nina, are you alright?"

"Yeah", she weakly coughed. "Although he did provide quite a stir around my body..."

Nina looked up from her position, and gave out a light smile towards her Uncle's face. That in turn left him to show a confident expression in return… all before a shadow quickly came over them.

He turned around, and used his laser to shoot towards the direction of the shadow's bearer - N-Trance himself. But… that just left the shots to rebound from his armor, causing just a light blemish on the surface.

"You have provided quite a challenge my friend; too bad that what you did wasn't enough to help restore this world."

N-Trance showed a smirk upon his face as he sent his new arm into the air. By then, the metallic structures were reflected strongly upon his face, leaving him to smirk cautiously as time managed to advance.

"Let the transformation begin!"

Behind him, the Kaiser gave out a brief nod as he managed to make his approach near him. As soon as he got there, he brought his arms into a strong surge of deep purple energy around them.

He then took a hold of Trance's arm, leaving that to charge up with the same amount of energy to match. That left the surge to continue onwards as time went further on, before an orb was soon formed out of it.

The orb then grew to be as big as the Kaiser's head, which in turn had its colors reflecting strongly upon his face. And then, the orb was triggered straight towards the sky like a freshly-lit firework.

The skies were then twisted and started to form various different colors right across the skies, flashing from dark and moody blues and reds, all the way through to frightening strobe lights within seconds.

A vast amount of wind was blown around the scene, even directly above the clouds, which in turn were starting to turn into nothing but gaseous streamlined provisions swarming above the planet's surface.

The water of the ocean was soon being lifted steadily from the ground like a magnet being lifted right above the ground, some of which being soaked right into the clouds, while a few drops were seen heading towards outer space.

"This is it... the end of the world as we know it."

Cortex showed a face of panic as he saw the planet's gravity slowly being upturned for what it was. He then started to show more hesitance as at the same time, various orange meteor-like objects were falling their way towards the ground.

He then gave out a deep sigh as he looked on at the ground, knowing that the platform that he's on is the last area that he'd be able to stand upon. At the same time, he felt a hand touch his shoulder, leaving him to twitch.

"But remember what Kyle said to us", smiled Bev as she touched Cortex's shoulder. "We have all fought bravely, and we will be remembered well for that."

Kazaa was left to sigh from behind her. "I'm just glad he didn't live to see this."

From Bev's position, Kazaa showed a light and broad-eyed expression upon her own face, while at the same time much of the others ended up showing sympathetic expressions as time managed to advance further.

As that happened, the amount of water making its way into space was increasing, while at the same time various other objects like plants and rocks were also steadily forcing their way up towards the skies.

That in turn left nothing more than a grayscaled desert-like area to form among the remainder of the planet's surface, all before that in turn started to dissolve into absolutely nothing. That in turn left a whirlpool of light starting to form upon it.

"I'm sorry if it all had to a close sometime soon", Tropy sighed with despair.

"But can't you help us by bringing us back in time?" N. Gin asked him with hope.

"No, even my powers there are limited. We're going to struggle from here on in."

Tropy then sighed as he looked on at his pitchfork, understanding of the limits that time travel could provide among his companions. All that N. Gin could do was sigh faintly to himself with defeat showing on his face.

At the same time, the whirlpool of light was starting to steadily make its way around the planet's surface, almost swallowing up everything there was above ground level. That left nothing but emptiness in its wake.

Time then passed, and the strength of the whirlpool of light started to increase further and further, with the Kaiser's vile and menacing laugh starting to echo right across the now emptying plain.

While that happened, Cortex brought his face towards the ground, a deep frown showing upon his face as time has managed to pass. With the whirlpool coming closer and closer, he knew that the Earth has faced a devastating demise that even he couldn't create.

But while that happened… the sound of an engine was heard from beneath the platform. That in turn left the scientist to slightly lift his head up at the sound of it, leaving him to look towards the surface and detect the machine.

"What was that?" Cortex exclaimed.

Crunch then pointed straight upwards. "Look up!"

Cortex indeed looked up, and right within the oozing night sky he managed to take note of a ship that was flying high within its position upon the sky. Its purple colors were only just made out alongside the bright strobe lights.

It managed to circle the platform, before various white flashes started to show from on top of the ship, striking down towards the platform. That in turn caused some of the light particles that made it up to crumble into nothing.

It then made its way around the other side, showing itself in a closer format. Right upon the recognition of its fins and its color patterns, Bev showed a smile as she managed to make her walk towards the platform's edge.

"That's the CODA!"

"And there's Crash standing right on top of it!"

Kazaa pointed up, and indeed, Crash was seen standing firmly upon the surface with a smirk showing upon his face. There, he was holding onto a turret that was sitting right on top of the ship, which showed a majestic motion around its silver plating.

He then pointed the gun back towards the platform, and shot various white energy bullets down towards the surface, crumbling other parts of the light platform apart. The essence of the explosion left some of Cortex's close minions to gasp in awe.

"Whoa, now that's one awesome turret!" Kazaa said with a romantic smile.

"Wait a minute", Cortex paused with confusion. "I thought I'm the only one who can pilot that thing?"

Cortex showed a hesitant expression as he looked closer towards the CODA - if Crash was riding it, who was flying it, he thought to himself. And it was through one turn upon the ship that it came much closer to his viewpoint.

From his standing position, Crash looked on at the sunroof on top of the ship from his position, his fur bravely blowing within the wind as time managed to advance. And right there, he saw Coco holding onto the controls tightly.

With a determined expression, she pulled several levers down and another one up, taking a hold upon the steering wheel and allowing the ship to make a faint ascension upon the planet's surface.

"Let's go show him what we got Crash!" shouted Coco from below.

"We're on it!"

Crash made a devious smirk as he took a tighter grip upon the turret, showing itself to be of a similar shape to a machine gun. Various essences of light were seen making their way within the fuel compartments directly underneath the nose.

He looked right there, and saw various pipes connected inside the ship. They in turn helped to fill up the tank, which he read the dominant label on it - "ammunition". He placed his hand lightly upon the texture, giving out a light smile for himself.

And upon taking it out from the tank, he saw that it was shown to be clean - not only his hand, but also the glove that was brought around it. There, he managed to know well about the powers of the CODA - the machine capable of restoring peace.

"Hahaha, eat this!"

With a devious expression, he used the gun to shoot down towards the others, causing a powerful pulse to show around the ground upon landing. On that platform, N-Trance and the Kaiser were starting to panic at the shots' force.

And it wasn't long until the ship managed to swarm around various sides of the ship, the gun continuing to shoot its way right across the scene and shooting further towards its opponents. Upon one particular shooting, it landed upon N-Trance's new arm, which somehow turned itself into a replica of the torn arm from him.

The Kaiser then managed to make his way to try and block Trance from getting hit further; thus, he used his arms to block the shots even further, causing more energy particles to rebound from him… although at the cost of having his elbows suddenly turn bright red with a sparkling clean nature.

"Heh, he's not even standing a chance! Why?"

"Such are the mysterious powers of the CODA", grinned Coco from below. "Maybe we should ask Cortex when we get back!"

Coco smiled on and showed a confident expression as she turned the ship around, leaving Crash to continue aiming down towards the others. He then smirked before looking on towards the energy tank.

He saw there that it was half full - surprising ever since he was hoping for the gun to fill itself, but he still smiled confidently as he took a hold upon the trigger once more as Trance and the Kaiser came closer.

"Don't stand there", shouted the Kaiser. "Let's fight on against them!"

It was there that the remainder of the Squadron Gemini also showed up from behind him, flashing with white energy particles around them before landing safely upon the ground. They aimed their guns up towards the blimp, showing confident expressions all around.

There, they charged up various balls of dark magic within their own pistols, swarming with an eerie form of light around them. The orbs themselves became gradually bigger over time - swarming with energy as they soon became almost as big as the head of the average Squadron member.

"Bite the dust!" Trance exclaimed.

The energy orbs then made their flow straight towards the machine, striking hard against the surface when appropriate. Some of which even managed to strike some of the engine foundations underneath, leaving it to struggle to maintain its balance and drop to its right.

"Whoa!" screamed Coco. "The ship's starting to stutter here!"

"No worries, I'll make sure to use the turret to its full potential!"

Crash then took a harder grasp upon the turret as the ship was seen losing its streamlined nature. He then aimed the gun right on at the opponents, showing a deep smirk upon his face as time went on.

At the same time, more orbs were being shot towards the side of the ship, leaving it to stutter further. Eventually, Crash was left to eventually sit on a part of the gun and tried shooting from that direction.

The Kaiser continued to leer on at him. "You won't live long to see this planet transform, you little runt!"

Crash's expression started to show more rage as time emerged, maintaining a strong grasp upon the trigger as time managed to continue. It then made its shooting right towards the Gemini, leaving them to show shock upon the gun's continuation.

Eventually, the ship made its turn, leaving the balance to be tipped towards the other side, with the gun to form a totally different direction altogether. He then pointed the gun as appropriately from his position to match.

As Crash continued to shoot, the others managed to watch from aside looking on at his confident motion. The reflections were shown even more so on Cortex, whom showed a slightly confused expression to match the scene.

"How can Crash cope with a machine like this?" Cortex asked the remainder of the team.

"I don't know, but he's damn good."

Bev showed a deep smile as she watched on at Crash's powerful aiming ability, which then started to strike straight down towards the Kaiser's feet, robbing him of his claws within a mere few shots.

As his confidence continued to increase as he continued to attack the group, Cortex then thought on about the CODA magic. He looked towards his laser, and indeed saw the white substance firm within his gun to match.

"Those bullets..." Cortex lightly asked Bev as he looked on at his laser. "Maybe that's what you're intending for us with the CODA energy, to try and strike them back?"

"You invented it in the first place - how did it come around?"

Cortex widened his eyes. Of course, he made the airship - and in due time, its energy source - yet he didn't know much about the fuel until that moment in time. He thought carefully about the airship's origins, right from the start of his siege against Crash… and the company he had back then.

"Now that you mention it... BRIO!"

Cortex brought his attention towards Brio, whom ended up giving out a shy nod at the sight. It was realised that his mastery in potions had to show the truth behind the creation of the CODA energy itself.

While the two were left to ponder over the situation themselves, Crash continued to make a brave fight from the top of the ship. By then, the Gemini were really starting to pull back with dark orbs for counter-attacks.

As that happened, more orbs managed to strike the side of the ship, leaving the balance to worsen over time. But Crash still smirked steadily from his position, ready to be able to use the turret to its potential.

"Let's keep going! He's almost there!"

He looked through the sunroof, and indeed he saw Coco starting to wince inside the ship, in spite of holding the controls steadily. That left him to growl as he brought his attention back towards the weapon itself.

As that happened, more dark orbs came through, although this time the balloon compartment of the ship was left to twist itself 90 degrees. That left Crash sitting right on top of the turret, leaving him to struggle to point the gun up.

"Oh no, this thing's really falling!"

"We need to land this!"

Coco showed hesitance as she tried to turn the ship around to the other side. This time, the controls were becoming less and less responsive as the damage on the ship was starting to worsen.

At the same time, Crash took a hold upon the side of the ship and tried to pull the gun up… but that only resulted in some bolts falling off from the base, leaving a gush of white energy to suddenly fly out from underneath the gun's position.

The energy was shown to spray out in a similar fashion like water towards the platform, instantly covering much of the remaining Gemini members as well as moderate portions of Trance and the Kaiser.

"Perfect spot!"

Coco then gave out a smile as she saw a small clearing upon the deteriorating platform; one that was big enough to be able to land the ship. Right there, she took a closer grasp upon the steering wheel and brought the ship around.

Thus, it went straight forward towards the clearing, the nose gradually being lifted up over time. Determination continued to show around her, with the same expression being shown around Crash, whom was struggling to maintain his balance.

And there, the ship managed to make its landing right on the surface, providing a deep scratch upon the glistening floor. Crash then managed to make his jump off as the CODA energy was left to spray right across the platform.

"Oh no, what has she done?" Trance exclaimed from his standing point.

"Retreat!" commanded the Kaiser.

As the CODA energy continued to spread across the platform, most of the Gemini members were starting to panic as it came closer towards them. By that time, some of which were left to jump off the platform, towards the strobe light whirlpool beneath.

That left Trance and the Kaiser til last - Crash then made his jump across the scene, trying his best to catch up with the pair with his fists brought back, but… before he could even inflict damage, they too jumped off.

The orange bandicoot then looked over the edge, curious over what would have happened to the pair. But… even there, time wasn't to waste - at that time, some of the CODA magic went around the soles of his shoes, making them look prestige and clean.

He took a step back as he saw some of the energy fall off the platform as it crumbled, leaving a light rain shower of white energy towards the whirlpool. That in turn left stronger electric surges to show beneath, instantly reflecting towards his eyes.

The sight then left him to make his way straight towards the ship once more, skidding among the ground as he did so. This time he met up with Coco in the cockpit, whom was showing hesitance just trying to re-lift the ship off the ground.

At the same time, the others then managed to make their entrance within the ship, hoping to escape from the incoming energy surge from below. And yet… the ship refused to take off. It as a result left them having to see into a sharp white flash.

* * *

The blinding flash lasted for a vast amount of time as a whole. By then, the details of the key components of the planet were shown to be indistinguishable as long as the light's strength was there. 

Gradually, the details of the light started to fade out, allowing the darker areas of the mountain tops to gradually come into view although in a monochrome format around them. This in turn was followed by the basic shapes of the land.

Details were soon refined in a sketchbook-like format, before the white light soon gradually turned into pastel colors. The colors then became deeper and deeper, before showing the island as it was once more.

But this time around, the skies were shown to be a bright sky blue color, with fluffy clouds showing around it. Trees and plants started to spring to life as if it faced the first spring season in a long time.

The ocean then started to flow gently once more, with a lot of dolphins bursting out from the waters itself. A random whale also managed to make its appearance among the horizon, showing its majestic form before gently going beneath the waves.

Upon the skies, several doves started to fly their way among the surface, as if they were set to see the arrival of a new world once more. Various other types of birds were also seen making their departure from the ground, aiding to the amount of peace the ground has unveiled.

As that happened, the crucially damaged CODA managed to fly among the skies and land upon the sandy beaches once more, where the group were exposed to the island's peaceful status once more. Yet they noticed at the same time, that there was one element of the war that still remains outstanding.

The ruins of the Rebellion HQ were still intact, although no longer were they ridden with rising smoke and scattered ashes. And right where Crunch left him, was Kyle's body… in the exact position left in.

The group looked on upon him from their position, and indeed, they knew they followed his exact wishes - to use the CODA to win the fight. Although his sacrifice may have meant a lot to the team, they knew that his wishes have aided strongly in restoring the island… at peace once more.

_-end of part 9-_


	10. Ending: Paradise Found

AUTHOR'S NOTES-

I was meant to upload this on Sunday, but time was too short given the move back. Bleh.

Anyhow, this is the final part in this Crash fic of mine - what happened to the island after the climatic final encounter with Kaiser Gemini? And whatever happened to the people around the island? If you really need to find out, now's the time to look into it.

Looking back upon the commentary from one last time… hm. Nothing much on appraisal side, but I thank everyone who managed to take a look into it and appreciate it from that side. I also want to point out a brief notation towards Lord Red, whom ended up clarifying some of his own fanfic notes as a whole. Red, I appreciate your backup man, but I think it would be easier if that sort of thing was saved for emails. :)

I can say it's been great just finishing this fic off and emerging on to the end. Whether you read light portions, read the whole thing, took interest on the concept from a different angle... or only just heard about it today (!), I want to pass down thanks on your cooperation on your part. Who knows - I may do more fics like this in the future, but we'll see.

Anyhow, goodnight and God bless.

Peace out,

_-Rexy-_

* * *

The night then fell around the scene, leaving a bright starlit sky around the island. By that time, various torches were seen lit up, burning brightly as time managed to advance further on, and allowing radiant glows of red and yellow shades to reflect upon the walls. 

At the same time, a shooting star was seen making its way upon the skies, easily matching to the grace as shown upon the island. As that happened, the lights upon the stars were reflected strongly upon the calm ocean waves.

The waters then made their firm provision upon the sandy shores as that happened, which in turn was left to add to the island's calm nature once more. The torches were seen glowing peacefully to reflect with the night life.

While that happened, a tribal march was heard from one corner of the island, and it was there that a group of island natives were seen chanting their way as they knew that the island has been restored once more.

Various members of the tribe were seen doing different things, from thumping drums to eating fire to just chanting their way victoriously. Around them, various colorful paper banners were seen hovering across various staffs, blowing in the wind.

Hidden within the group were most of Cortex's minions; Tiny and Pinstripe were seen juggling rocks towards one another, Ripper Roo had the insanity to try to eat some of the light flames coming out of Dingodile's flamethrower, Brio and N. Gin were left to chant with the other tribesmen, Polar and Pura sat on top of a tiki while shaking maracas in their front paws, the Komodo Brothers were left to clash their swords to the tribal rhythm, and Tropy was left to dance with the others in the background... all before his moods suddenly calmed down after reaching one of the island's corners.

As they continued on, Tropy then made his advancement towards the shoreline, where he sat down upon the surface and looked on around him. The stars were seen lit and reflected strongly upon his armor.

Yet one thing he also realised was that from the fight, a few elements still remain. The Kaiser's tower on Meteor Mountain was still there, although partially in ruin. Various outposts were still seen standing intact, most notably those closer to Tropy himself.

He was about to think hard about the time at the HQ, but... that was until a bright light in the sky soon caught his attention. He turned to it, and indeed he managed to see a firework make its escape into the sky.

And then, several more fireworks made their escape into the skies as they managed to do so, lighting up the night view in an instant. That left a heavy reflection of light to show upon Tropy's armor, as he stood up with a proud expression showing upon his own face.

Alas, as the night continued on, some of the island natives still managed to stay around the scene, clearing behind the remains of the Rebellion HQ and taking them into the direction of their own native villages.

The other tribal residents were left to continue their carnival around the island, easily showing their feelings over the island facing freedom once more... and in effect, the prevention of a hideous twisting of the entire planet.

* * *

A week passed, and it was there that the skies remained pretty much intact, as well as the island surface. Several plants started to blow within the gentle breeze, the rays of sunshine easily helping in providing warmth around the scene. 

From nearby, Coco was seen making her walk along a dusty path that ran between the shoreline and the growing grass, making a cautious move towards a nearby slope that lead straight towards a small cliff-like clearing.

She then reached the top of the ramp, where she ended up making her approach into the clearing in full. A few trees were seen with plaques lying right next to them. Within them, she then made her approach to a nearby one near the middle.

"Kyle..."

She gave out a deep frown as she came closer and closer to the tree, the newest of the lot, its stalk only being as wide as her smallest finger at that moment in time. She then sat down cautiously upon the ground, looking onto the ground.

Her eyes were then brought up towards the plaque, where Kyle's head shot was shown in full as well as a small Celtic cross engraved underneath his name. By that instance, Coco started to show a shakier expression on her face, her long hair almost hiding her nose and mouth.

"I feel sorry for failing to see you for one last time... I mean, I was really worried about your dreams if anything."

She gave out a deep sigh as she brought her hands further within the moist grounds, clutching tightly upon the grass reeds that were brought underneath her own hands. She then blinked before lifting her head up to the skies.

From her viewpoint, she saw much of the island within her view, as well as a small purple blur in the distance - the CODA at its final landing point, now looking completely immobile given the amount of damage around it.

"You wanted the CODA to work well as a strong machine to counter against the Gemini", she whispered quietly. "I too wanted to make a firm note of it."

She then stood up and walked carefully towards the edge of the clearing, which ended up with a wooden fence blocking her from the scene - one that has obstructed her from falling into the choppy sea water beneath.

The CODA itself was seen being moved by the tribal residents of the island, advancing towards one of their camps where it may be disassembled to generate equipment for their own needs. She gave out a light frown as she turned back towards the small tree.

"But what is more important in this world? Organic life - that's what. I just didn't want you to fall just like that."

She continued to frown as she made her way back towards the tree, the wind starting to gradually blow her hair around as time has occurred. Once back around the front of the tree, she brought herself back down onto both knees.

"The planet may be at peace. The planet now has everything restored to it. But... as far as I know..."

She looked back towards the tree, its very faint leaves spurting out from its minimal branches starting to flutter within the cool winds around her. That in turn fluttered in time with the delicate blue flower embedded within her hair.

And then... the winds calmed down, leaving her hair to be blown right back towards her spine at that point. She herself was frozen in her own position, a small tear making its escape from her broad emerald green eyes.

"Everything has equalled to nothing."

And thus, she lowered her head towards the ground, where the tear managed to fall its way onto the grass and settle within the earth. She sniffled quietly to herself, trying her best to maintain her feelings of sadness to herself.

"You can't say that", whispered a deep feminine voice from nearby.

Coco brought her head up. "Huh?"

The voice left her to turn around from her position, only letting her to see into the same empty clearing that she came into. Her eyes then started to twitch, leaving her to wonder who ended up speaking to her in the first place.

And then… a figure managed to make its way up the hillside - a familiar, cat/fish figure. In fact, she was one with distinguishable golden fur and long blue hair to instantly allow Coco to point out her exact identity.

"Kazaa?"

She made her step up towards her and made a light walk towards her direction, while Kazaa did the same back. As that happened, another figure ended up making its way upon the scene from right behind her - a male, broad figure that she knew well.

"Crunch?" she asked as she recognised him.

"We overheard your speaking Coco. I understand how much pain it is to struggle to see anyone on the point before death."

He himself made his approach towards her, placing his hand cautiously upon her shoulder. The firm touch upon her left her to see into his eyes cautiously, seeing into a sympathetic side to one of her closer friends in the previous few months.

While that happened, Kazaa gave out a light tail twitch as she made her venture towards the tree for herself. She then crouched down there, shifting her eyes between the plaque and the graceful ocean waves that resided ahead of them.

"I faced a similar scenario with most of my relations back home", started the mercat, "right before they were manipulated by N-Trance to do their bidding."

"Yeah", said Crunch with a deep tone. "And I knew a lot of friends during my time as a minion for Cortex; some of which ended up going into training arenas and never came out again, which I felt disappointed with."

Crunch sighed lightly from his position, before he brought himself into a calm walk towards the other side of the tree, his eyes firmly fixed upon the leaves blowing gently within the morning winds over time.

As that happened, Coco started to show a more widened approach upon her eyes... but that's before Kazaa made her walk towards her, gently patting her upon the shoulders with her own paw-like hands as she did so.

"So there's no need to panic if you didn't see him before demise - as long as you remember him for the happy times... that will do just great."

"You think so?" Coco quietly asked her.

Kazaa gave out a light nod from her head, leaving Coco to make her turn right towards her. She gave out a light eye twitch towards the mercat, before then... her quivering eyes started to carry a light smile within her mouth to match.

"Oh, thank you!"

With her eyes starting to gather moist underneath them, she ended up making her way towards Kazaa herself, bringing her hands into a firm grasp around her chest; various tears were seen flowing down her eyes as that happened.

She brought herself into a forced smile, knowing that she could be at comfort from her companions. Even though she felt that failing to see Kyle one last time blemished her attitude slightly, it still left her to think on about the good times she shared with him.

Her grasp was soon released from the mercat, whom in turn showed a peaceful smile all around her. By that time, the winds somehow started to blow much more gently than the usual, and it's by then that their hair and clothes were left in a more motionless gesture.

The atmosphere left various birds to make their flight above the scene, adding to a livelier atmosphere within the skies above them. Some of which even made their way down towards the ocean, allowing their feet to skim across the surface before hovering up again.

Some of the birds were left to fly their way right across the tree-filled clearing, zooming right past the bandicoots and the mercat as that happened. By that time, the wind was left to pick up once more, easily allowing their hair to blow in the wind as that happened.

The force of the wind then left the water to make its collision upon the cliff-like edge, allowing a giant wave to make its splattered force against it, all before making its settling upon the calm ocean waves once more.

By that instance, various dolphins and whales were seen making their jump out from the ocean waves, adding to the harmony that the skies have brought around. Back on land, a small boar made its run across the scene, squealing with joy at the sight of the surroundings.

Coco then brought her attention towards the skies, where she ended up witnessing more birds making their flight across the scene, zooming across the minimal cloud structures that managed to simmer across the scene.

But as that happened, the twisted shapes left her to give off a light blink as she looked closer towards one of which, transforming into a head. A very familiar head that she could easily make her memory recall upon its presence.

The shape did in fact develop a beak and a pair of eyes - the still face of Kyle-Jovi, lightly smiling through his own expression. The glance left Coco to gasp right at the sight of the hovering shape above her.

"So he might have heard our words after all..."

Kazaa smiled back at her. "So there's no need to panic too much. As long as we remember him, he'll still be with us no matter what."

Kazaa placed her hand calmly upon her head, stroking her long hair as delicately as possible. She then gave out a light link, leaving her to soon bring her focus behind her. And there, the mercat showed a peaceful expression back towards her.

Several seconds then passed again, which left her to turn straight towards the clouds once more; right there, the vision of Kyle then made its departure from the scene, allowing the cloud to look more dispersed once more.

Coco's face lightly dropped at the sight... all before one of the bigger trees nearby dropped a small white flower from their branches, landing gently upon the tip of her nose. She lightly blinked at it before taking a grasp of it herself.

"I... I guess you're right..."

With a smile, she took a firm grasp upon the flower for herself, easily understanding the firm nature that has been brought upon it. By that instance, her hair started to blow more beautifully and graceful over time.

But... the force soon left the petals to make their departure from the flower, making their hovering right across the island scene and hovering their way right across the island. Some of which landed upon the ground, some were left to hide within the trees, while others continued to make their hovering far into the reaches of the ocean.

The scene left Coco to make her smile towards it, knowing that she has understood that no matter where she walks, Kyle will always be there to watch over her and the other island residents. And as a result, she will know this fact for a long time to come.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the other side of the island, the ocean waves were shown to be a bit more vigorous with their current positions. Much of the water was seen splashing above the ground, reflecting strongly upon the waters at that moment in time. 

Along the graceful sandy shores, a tiki barge was seen making its way across the waters. It soon managed to settle itself towards a nearby dock, where it managed to settle itself firmly upon the graceful moving seawater.

Along the edge of the dock was Bev, standing firmly upon the edge while looking out to the calm late dawn skies. She showed a peaceful wide-eyed look upon her, all before looking behind her and seeing Cortex look on towards her.

"Bev..."

"Neo, may I say how much of a wonderful time I ended up spending with you around here."

She made a light walk towards him and gently placed her arms around his shoulders, leaving him to look straight up towards her. But even that alone wasn't quite enough to smile from his position, as it just left him to blink lightly.

"If that's the case, why can't you stay any longer?" he asked her in a calm tone.

"Like I said, I have family to take care of back home."

She went into her pocket, and pulled out a small pendant that can be seen to be almost too big to fit onto a necklace. She opened it up, and there inside it were two photographs of the same two people, although in different timescales.

The first image showed Bev as a child, wearing a lot of colourful clothing underneath a deep brown tank top, alongside a ginger haired girl in a long blue dress. The other one showed them as adults, showing Bev's adult form although she was then standing near the same ginger haired girl, but with wounds and is sitting in a wheelchair.

"And besides, there's one thing that has been proven official; as far as I know, the rebellion is over. The Gemini has fallen, and this world has been restored in an instant."

Bev gave out a light smile as she firmly closed the pendant, before looking straight up towards the graceful skies above. As the birds flew above her, she knew that her time in restoring the island's true nature has been accomplished.

She then brought her eyes back down towards Cortex, a cautious smile showing upon her face as that happened. There, she managed to make a more graceful walk towards him, bringing her arms around his body with a graceful hug.

"And I thank you for that", she beamed peacefully.

The touch upon Cortex's body left him to end up with widened eyes as that happened. He then smiled peacefully as he looked behind him, seeing towards the scene from behind him… within there being Nina whom was seen standing at the other side of the dock.

"If you want, I'll help you look after him. I understand his emotions at this moment in time."

With a confident look, she ended up bringing herself into a tight grasp around his neck, bringing her hands upon his shoulders… where his face suddenly started to turn purple with the amount of pain that was brought through the steel traps.

She gave out a light giggle as she released her grasp, blushing gently and showing a nervous look as she ended up doing so. She then managed to make a light step away from the scene, leaving Cortex and Bev alone once more.

"Well, whatever you do Bev" Cortex started with a shaky voice, "please think a lot about me. I hope that someday we can be able to meet up once more, although in a more different circumstance."

She gave out a light chuckle. "I will make sure of that."

There, she ended up showing a graceful stroke upon his head, thinking a lot about the circumstances that could pass between them. As that happened, she ended up picking him up from his feet, taking a strong grasp around his body like a gnome at that moment in time.

She was left to swing him around like a rag-doll, their expressions showing a lot of peace around them as time managed to pass. In mid-flight, she even had the courage to bring her lips towards one of his cheeks, giving off a light kiss as that happened… all before dropping him gently onto the ground once more.

"I will remember you for as long as I can", she whispered as she made her walk backwards. "Farewell."

"Bev?"

Cortex's expressions were fixed towards her as she managed to make her graceful walk towards the tiki barge, waving towards him as that happened. She then settled firmly upon the edge of the boat, before looking on at the tribal sailor standing near the hut on it.

He made his way inside the hut for himself, leaving the boat to make its start to move upon the ground. The gesture left Cortex to widen his eyes before making his dash down the dock, towards the sandy surface.

"BEV!" he cried out to her.

"Uncle Neo!"

He then made a zoom right past Nina, whom in turn ended up falling onto her back at his force, falling into the water as she did so. As she brought her head above the water, she sighed angrily as she made her way to the sand bank.

The boat then made its circle across the island structures, leaving Cortex to make his run towards it as it managed to float further. And it wasn't long until he managed to witness the barge making a turn around a nearby corner.

That left him to make his way up a gentle slope, before sliding down a stone-like slope at the bottom. Right there, he managed to catch up with the barge in its tow, leaving him to try and reach his hand out towards the barge.

As he reached the middle of the chase, various trees from nearby left various flowers and petals to make their fall onto the ground, some of which even hovering their way right between Cortex and the barge.

Within that time, the scientist managed to make a closer run towards the barge, and it was at that instance that he was able to reach for the barge himself, taking a grasp upon the side of the boat for himself.

By that instance, he was able to take a grasp upon Bev's hand, trying to hold on as hard as he can in spite of the boat picking up speed. She was then left to look towards him once more, her hair lightly blowing in the wind as that happened.

"Remember, you'll remember me!" she called out towards him. "I will remember you back!"

"Bev!"

"You are Neo Cortex!"

Their grasp was then released, leaving the pair to end up drifting further and further apart as time managed to occur. By that time, the boat made another corner, although this time it started to drift further and further away from the island.

By the time he was able to catch up with the boat once more... it ended up making a departure from the overall island structure and started going further and further into the depths of the distant Pacific Ocean waves.

He tried to make a further attempt to reach for her by wading lightly through the water, but... he made a stop just before his shoes could get waterlogged. He then made a sudden stop, his face suddenly making its drop.

"She... she's gone..."

The tiki barge was left to drift further and further away towards the horizon, showing itself as nothing more than a black dot on the brink of the water. As that happened, the water started to drift around his feet, leaving his boots to be almost drenched.

He then gave out a deep frown as he sat down upon the ground, his feet twitching in their position. By that time, the tide among the ocean waves was left to drift lower and lower, leaving more room for sitting upon the sand dunes.

The light of the skies was left to shine strongly upon his face, but that didn't do much to change his facial expression or anything. But it wasn't until a familiar shadow crept over his body that he actually started to twitch.

"Hey man", Crash's voice then spoke towards the scientist. "I take I owe you ten wumpa fruit for proving your point with the purpose of the Gemini."

"I'm not hungry."

Cortex then sighed deep from his position, before looking on at Crash. He then managed to approach the scientist with a calm and collective expression around him, before stroking one of his hands upon his shoulders.

"I know how upsetting it is for you", the bandicoot started, "but I do believe that Bev has got a lot of other things on her hand. Now that the rebellion is over, the island's activity will be back to normal, and she has aided in making sure of that."

The bandicoot showed a light smile towards the scientist, whom in turn was left to turn his head right towards him. And it was there that a clearer sign of determination was shown upon his face as time managed to brush on.

"Trust me - there's a strong circumstance you'll be able to meet up with her again. I just know it."

He then stood broadly towards one side of him, which left them to see into the remains of the watery trail the tiki barge left behind. The ripples were then brought calmly towards the sandy shores as time evoke.

The calmer status of the ocean waves left them to look towards one another, lightly blinking towards one another. Several seconds passed, and Cortex then showed a shaken smile as he brought himself onto both feet.

"Whichever is the case, I was right about all this", the scientist lightly sighed. "My connection with the Evil Twins really_did_ shake the island."

"It's okay, man", winked Crash. "I mean, everyone makes mistakes. We just don't realise them."

With a light wink, he made his walk behind a nearby rock, and pulled out a brown sack. He then layered it towards the ground, leaving various round shapes to make their roll upon the dense grounds beneath them.

Cortex then approached the sack for himself as well as looking inside. He checked, double checked and triple checked. Right there were ten wumpa fruit being passed as a result of the bet established in their excursion. With a victorious smirk, he picked up one of the wumpa for himself... but even on the touch, his expression became more curious.

"It feels heavy... might have had a big stone in the middle or something."

He twitched his eyes as he managed to bring the wumpa towards his mouth. And maintaining that expression, he took a bite within the fruit for himself... only to witness that looking towards the inner portions of the fruit... there was no fruit mush; just gray cobbled stone.

The texture left him to instantly cough out what he managed to digest, leaving him to show a painful expression towards the ground. He then stomped on the stone for himself, before throwing the others into the water, still in the sack.

"These ARE stones! CRASH!"

"Uh-oh..."

Cortex instantly threw the stone wumpa to the ground, showing a growing face of anger showing upon his face at that moment in time. That left him to start chasing Crash across the shoreline, hoping to inflict some damage to the orange bandicoot himself.

"Come back here, you rotten bandicoot!"

Over time, he ended up bringing out his laser and started attempting to shoot him. That left various shots to make their way across the shoreline, yet within all of them, Crash was seen jumping/rolling his way out of their way, almost as if he was enjoying himself.

While that happened, they managed to pass down a nearby pathway, going across various pebble-like structures across the pathway. From nearby, some of the tribal residents couldn't help but show deep smiles upon their passing.

They then managed to make their dash straight past the tree-based clearing where Coco and the others were seen; as that happened, Nina managed to bring herself into a fast run towards the scene for herself, looking onto the scene from her direction.

"Yeah, take he did imply that this isle has restored itself to its former glory."

Kazaa lightly chuckled from behind her. "I can definitely see that."

The mercat brought herself into a light smile as that happened; that in turn left Crunch and Coco to make their way towards them as that happened. As that happened, Nina showed a light wink as they came towards them.

"So how do you think we should go around true normalisation for this week?"

"I have big plans", Crunch grinned. "Maybe if we visit the Iceberg Lab tonight we'll be sure to give your uncle a scare."

"We'll be on the case!" Coco cheered on from near him.

Nina gave out a light chuckle towards the group, before she then managed to make a calm walk towards the docks herself. That left Coco, Crunch and Kazaa to make their follow, as they knew that they could be in for something to get through for that period of time.

Meanwhile, the chase between Crash and Cortex was ensued on the other side of the island, and it was by then that the path that they ran on became more grass-ridden than before, leaving the blades to brush fluently upon their feet.

"You can't catch me!" Crash viciously chuckled towards the scientist. "You must be way too slow for your own good, doc!"

Crash gave out a light smirk as he ended up passing a nearby wumpa fruit tree; there, he reached for one of the fruit himself and started taking a bite out of it, the moist juice instantly making contact with his mouth.

Once he brought the fruit down to its stone, he then threw it straight behind him, leaving it to strike Cortex on the head. No effect. The bandicoot then shrugged as he made his way around corner, onto a drier pathway than before.

He then made his advancement straight towards a small pile of pebbles among the ground, and once there he made his run on top of the pile, causing the stones to roll straight onto the ground as that happened. Upon the sight, Cortex gave out a light gasp as the stones came closer.

"Crash Bandicoot! I swear, that this will be the last time I'll see your face alive! Prepare for annihilation!"

He growled as he tried to make his wade through the stones, but his approach was almost too late; by the time he went through half of the fallen stones, he ended up struggling through some of the bigger ones from the top of the pile.

That left him to start rolling backwards upon the stones for himself, leaving him to drift further and further away from Crash. By that instance, he started to scream from his position as he struggled to find a way out.

Eventually, the stones managed to lead off into the ocean, which all managed to land with small splashes upon the shallow waters. That left Cortex to make his fall off the light cliff for himself, leaving him to head into the sea head first.

He ended up splashing down harshly upon the surface, which left the ripples to make their riff across the scene. He pushed his head above the surface, showing him with his hair completely wet to match his clothes.

Back at the other side of the island, Crash was seen making his dash far away from the scientist, knowing that he was able to trick the scientist easily. He then made his dash around to the inner regions of the island, satisfied with what he did.

He knew for a fact that even though Cortex helped him throughout the reaches of their adventure against the Gemini, it still meant that he never really has to totally get along with him. Cortex created him and threw him out, and that would remain edged in as a fact.

And as far as Crash knew, that's as normal as the island's restoration can get. No one knows when the island will get attacked again, but all they do know is that they witnessed one of the closest encounters they faced in a long while - something to be etched in their minds for time to come.

* * *

EPILOGUE

**Crash Bandicoot**went backto being the star island defender that he was known for, showing himself as a bubblier marsupial now that the island was back to its restored form. True to Bev's words, he found himself travelling with Crunch and a few others 25 years in the past to save a child Cortex from a threatening force that tried to meddle with his incoming future, but that's another story.

**Dr Neo Cortex**advanced backto his roles as a sworn attacker around the island. However over the incoming weeks he has had problems trying to decipher the perfect plan to finish off Crash once and for all. He tried rampaging fire spores, talking plungers, and even had thoughts on designing the Mecha Bandicoot II, but with a low budget... it may be a while before anything could come together.

**Nina Cortex** returned to the Academy of Evil, where she took the final exams in the academic year. As a result she passed some of her subjects with flying colors - especially Painful Exercising (P.E.) - but struggled at Monstrology; upon taming the target sasquatch, she scarred its face with her steel trap hands. She is now requesting to have the traps removed, but Cortex has kept on declining the offer.

**Coco Bandicoot** decided to spend a year in America, on the aid of wanting to appear in the next big Hollywood stunt flick. She got an opportunity as a stunt double in the next "Kung Pow!" movie, but she soon managed to quit after a few weeks into the job, main reason being that she hates being obscured by black clothing, and that the heavy clothing of her Ninja garb hid her face "way too much".

**Crunch Bandicoot**started adaptingto his body building habits once more, on a vague attempt to try and shave some further weight from his stomach. By the end of the first few weeks, his muscular strength was left to have increased, aiding in a further growth. After further talking with the island natives, he was left to make his way through to a small hideout known as "Eggs Anonymous"...

**Kazaa Bismark** revisited the remains of the underwater home that she spent her childhood within to begin with. As soon as she got there, she spent a few days just looking around the ruins of what used to be around the underwater city itself. Even at this point she still craves to witness her lost friends and relations once more, although seeking on for them would be a more tedious event than once managed.

**Beverley Sanchez** approached her home town safely, meeting back up with her handicapped sister once more. Once there, she managed to dig through her old photographs, leaving her to see her time within the Academy of Evil with a younger version of Dr. Cortex; it was there that she realised that cooperating with him for the moment has left her to show appreciation for time gone past.

**Dr. Nefarious Tropy** started to spend time zooming across time and space once more with the Time Twister at hand. However, after tinkering on and off with that machine for the past few weeks, he was last seen trying to fight the hands of the loch ness monster coming out from the portal. Lab scientists are currently trying to bring him out from the portal at that moment in time.

**Dr. N. Gin** managed to retreat back towards his days of pirate hood, leaving him to start hunting for riches across the land solo. On one occasion he was lucky to make his way towards the remains of the Gemini stronghold, leaving him to recover seven colorful emeralds within the underground. Unfortunately for him, a certain blue hedgehog was looking for them too.

**Dingodile** made his way away from the island for a while and signed up for an anthro version of Survivor. He managed to stay on all the way through to the end, as well as taking a hold of several dingo girlfriends at a time. Quoting from himself, "every time ah got evicted by the rest o' the camp, I kept using my flamethrowa' to relight mah torch, and if anyone didn't like it... they were toast, myte!"

**Dr. Nitrus Brio** left the island once more and head to the reason why he took a break from the island from 1997 to 2001 onwards - finding a cure for Cancer. His previous attempt - intertwining wumpa fruit concentrate with a toothpaste solution - only just resulted in turning his patients' feet into edible dentures, which led him to retreat to N. Sanity Island and search for appearance opportunities since.

**Tiny Tiger** decided to stick around the island for a while and attempt to improve on his core fighting techniques before using those to fight back against various lab assistants in a row. Unfortunately, Cortex locked him away in a tower on another island for punishment... only to find out that upon picking him up 5 weeks later, the door to the tower was knocked completely off its hinges.

**Pinstripe Poteroo** went on an excursion towards the Sicily islands on a hope to track down the Mafia. By the time he ended up over there, he was completely stopped by various island residents, seeking for someone to teach them to make pizza. Now, Italian cuisine can't at all be eaten without traces of tommy gun bullets, which is steadily taking the country by storm.

**Ripper Roo** went back to college tuition, on the hope of wanting to turn sane from his constant jumping routine as a whole. About a year into it, he started taking an exam course, but that was where he ended up struggling past writing the name on the paper. At the very sight of it, he just jumped up and down on the spot, trying to scratch his name on the paper with his claws. Ouch.

**The Komodo Brothers** stayed upon the island, although they spent a lot of time with the tribal natives, using their swords to carve them fresh arsenal for any future invasions. Their efforts didn't last too long as Joe's planned 10-feet-long spears didn't pass the test of standing in one piece after being thrown to their target. Moe was thus taken the blame for failing to apply duck tape when needed.

**Polar** made an attempt to return to the North Pole from his position, only to end up sailing far enough to reach the upper reaches of the USA coastline. His anger and constant grasp of a baseball bat placed him in the Seattle Mariners baseball team for a few weeks, but his roles didn't last too long given that the ball was almost always thrown too high for him to reach... and he refused the option of stilts.

**Pura **ended up finding his way towards China while searching for Coco as she went on her film exhibition. While he was there, he found creatures just like himself and was hoping to cooperate with them just as much, although he was chased off by their vicious statuses all around them before he could even think of blending in with them.

**N-Trance** was lucky enough to survive the fall from the top of the machine, leaving him to soar through several different dimensions as a whole. He remained firmly within cyberspace for a week, before coming across a way out himself. He then wanted to get revenge by disturbing Cortex's past, thus finding a way to travel back in time, although that's another story.

The** Squadron Gemini** has failed to make their way out of the whirlpool of light, leaving them to float through time and space themselves. No one knew whatever happened to the Kaiser; the last people knew was that he was left to continue heading through cyberspace, attempting to shape shift to the original three figures he was before - Evil Crash, and the Evil Twins Victor and Moritz.

Even with Trance and the Squadron Gemini out of play - as far as most people were concerned - the memories of the war was left to be edged within the minds of the island residents for time to come. The loss of** Kyle-Jovi** was shown to be the hardest hit within all the blemishes left behind, but the island residents at least know that they can get along with life in spite of the eternal scars inflicted.

For a while to come, the fact remained that the Gemini have been defeated, and the island has been restored to normality.

"You will face demise soon, Crash Bandicoot!"

Not exactly at peace, but back to normal.

* * *

The Black Tide _fanfiction is © Rexy 2005_. Crash Bandicoot _and all related characters are © Universal Interactive Studios 1996-2005. All rights reserved._


End file.
